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Total 100 articles, created at 2016-03-30 00:01 1 Egypt plane drama ends: hijacker arrested, passengers freed

(2.00/3) LARNACA, Cyprus — An Egyptian man wearing a fake explosives belt who hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and forced it to land in Cyprus on Tuesday has surrendered and was taken into custody 2016-03-29 23:04 947Bytes newsinfo.inquirer.net 2 Failed first half chances jar North Koreans Perfection proved to be the undoing for the North Korean side as it fell to the Philippines, 3-2, in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifying Tuesday at Rizal Memorial Stadium. Wanting to follow its 2016-03-30 00:01 2KB sports.inquirer.net 3 Azkals showed Filipino spirit in character win, says Ramsay Though the one to nail the dramatic winner in the Azkals' 3-2 conquest over North Korea on Tuesday, Iain Ramsay said that the team will always be the front and center in every success of the 2016-03-30 00:01 2KB sports.inquirer.net 4 Hit by theft, LTO warns vs fake plates A “skinny” thief broke into the Land Transportation Office (LTO) on East Avenue, Quezon City, over the Holy Week break and stole cut and uncut aluminum sheets that could be used to make at least 2016-03-30 00:01 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 5 Brian Poe thanks mom’s allies in San Juan but bashed online On the night presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe received an endorsement from reelectionist Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, she also got the express support of the Estrada family’s political 2016-03-30 00:01 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 6 DOH defers Orthopedic Center upgrade; no deal takers under PPP The Department of Health (DOH) has put on hold the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) under the public private partnership (PPP) program, drawing instead some P100 million from 2016-03-30 00:01 2KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 7 Durolfo death: Test proves drug use but… Although she tested positive for amphetamine—a “dangerous drug” and possible component of ecstasy—this did not prove that Edgel Joy Durolfo died of a drug overdose as claimed by the four 2016-03-30 00:01 3KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 8 Police Probe If Wind Played Role in Fatal 7-Story Fall Police are investigating whether powerful wind gusts played a role in the death of a man who fell off the roof of a 7-story office building in New Jersey. The building manager at the Glenpointe office complex in Teaneck was found on the ground around 7 a.m... 2016-03-30 00:00 1KB abcnews.go.com 9 Justices seem to seek compromise in birth control case A seemingly divided Supreme Court is exploring a possible compromise ruling in the dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control. 2016-03-29 23:57 3KB www.washingtontimes.com 10 Video: Good Samaritans Rescue Trapped People From Burning Car A man and woman were pulled from a burning Mercedes-Benz that collided with a Metro bus in South Los Angeles. 2016-03-29 23:52 1KB abcnews.go.com 11 Bevin: Democrats hurt budget process by not negotiating Tensions between Republicans and Democrats over Kentucky’s $65 billion-plus spending plan escalated overnight, with the Republican governor blaming Democratic House leaders for refusing to negotiate, and the legislators themselves trading pointed verbal barbs. 2016-03-29 23:50 4KB www.washingtontimes.com 12 Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit attack site in India The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are embarking on what is seen as one of their most ambitious tours to date - taking in the Taj Mahal as well as visiting the Mumbai hotel targeted by gunmen in the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people. 2016-03-29 23:47 2KB www.washingtontimes.com 13 Rio Grande irrigation water reaches Las Cruces Water released from reservoirs along the Rio Grande has passed through the Las Cruces area faster than expected, signaling the river channel is wetter because of local precipitation. 2016-03-29 23:46 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 14 Judge orders Norman to release requested city email records A judge has ordered the city of Norman to turn over public records requested by two residents who filed a joint suit against the city, alleging a violation of the Oklahoma Open Records Act. 2016-03-29 23:46 2KB www.washingtontimes.com 15 Belgium accused of string of attacks blunders Belgian authorities face growing criticism for a series of mistakes and missed chances in connection with a jihadist cell linked to both the Brussels and Paris attacks. 2016-03-29 23:41 6KB www.timeslive.co.za 16 The Latest: Group says fear stops some from supporting law The Latest on a new law in North Carolina that critics have called discriminatory (all times local): 2016-03-29 23:29 2KB www.washingtontimes.com 17 Spokane City Council members to get 44% raise Spokane City Council members will get a 44 percent raise next year, following a decision by the city’s Salary Review Commission. 2016-03-29 23:29 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 18 For some, leaving workforce continues years after retiring The transition from employment to retirement used to be marked by a date on a calendar, along with some sheet cake, and a maybe a gold watch. Those days are long gone for most workers in the United States. 2016-03-29 23:28 4KB www.washingtontimes.com 19 Gabby Giffords pushes for tougher gun laws in Delaware Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords is pushing for tougher gun laws in Delaware. 2016-03-29 22:12 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 20 Obama in Atlanta to address drug overdoses President Barack Obama said more must be done to combat opioid addiction, using a summit in Atlanta on Tuesday to unveil new measures aimed at curbing a drug overdose epidemic raging across Georgia and the rest of the nation. 2016-03-29 22:09 1KB www.ajc.com 21 2 bald eagles released after rehabilitation in Delaware Two bald eagles recently recovered from the fields near Dagsboro have been rehabilitated and released into the wild. 2016-03-29 23:16 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 22 1 dead after car goes off interstate, lands on vehicle below Police in southwest Idaho say a 64-year-old Nampa man died Tuesday after a car went off an Interstate 84 overpass and landed on his pickup. 2016-03-29 23:07 1KB www.washingtontimes.com

23 Prosecutor: No charges in deadly California balcony collapse A California prosecutor has decided against filing criminal charges in a fifth-story balcony collapse in Berkeley last year that killed six students from Ireland and injured seven other people, officials said Tuesday. 2016-03-29 23:07 3KB www.washingtontimes.com 24 FBI Hacking of iPhone Raises Questions About Method, Who Helped Federal officials announced Monday night they successfully cracked into an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters and no longer needed Apple's help in unlocking the device. In doing so, authorities succeeded in their goal of breaking into an iPhone used by Syed Farook but... 2016-03-29 23:03 1KB article.wn.com 25 Yuma County seeing dangerous levels of pollution Yuma County residents with asthma and other breathing disorders should avoid the outdoors today. 2016-03-29 22:59 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 26 Teenager shot outside Idaho home Authorities say a 17-year-old Caldwell boy has been hospitalized after being shot multiple times outside a residence. 2016-03-29 22:59 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 27 Texas family receive dog tag of WWII soldier killed in Japan A dog tag identifying an American serviceman killed in Japan during World War II has been returned to his surviving family in South Texas. 2016-03-29 21:51 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 28 Pacquiao: Warriors will surpass Bulls 72-10 record HOLLYWOOD—When not boxing, Manny Pacquiao is talking basketball. The eight- division world champion’s cage passion was evident Monday as Team Pacquiao’s discussions were centered on the 2016-03-29 22:47 2KB sports.inquirer.net 29 Pogoy has mixed emotions on first Gilas practice Roger Pogoy just had his first run with the Gilas Pilipinas on Monday. And how did it go for the young Cebuano from Far Eastern University? “Nakaka intimidate, pero mababait naman sila,” 2016-03-29 22:29 1KB sports.inquirer.net 30 Man accused of hiding under truck, touching woman’s foot Lincoln police have ticketed a man suspected of hiding under a truck so he could touch one of a woman’s feet. 2016-03-29 18:07 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 31 2 die in fire at home in Richmond County Two people have died when a fire burned their home in Richmond County. 2016-03-29 18:08 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 32 NY developer buys landmark 90-year-old hotel in upstate city A New York developer who owns popular shopping outlets near the Adirondacks has purchased a landmark 90-year-old hotel in a nearby upstate city. 2016-03-29 18:07 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 33 Montrose Area teachers strike in northeastern Pennsylvania Teachers are striking at a school district in northeastern Pennsylvania. 2016-03-29 18:03 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 34 Aquino signs into law Romualdez’s PWD bill More than a million disabled Filipinos will finally enjoy tax exemptions at par with the perks granted to senior citizens, maximizing the benefits that they deserve under the law. President 2016-03-29 21:37 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net

35 “Prison Break” star’s response to body-shaming meme goes viral “It could have been anything. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. But eating became the one thing I could look forward to”. These are just some of the strong words from American actor Wentworth 2016-03-29 21:22 3KB entertainment.inquirer.net 36 Video: Ohio Police Capture Escaped Inmate Ohio Highway State Patrol confirms to ABC News that escaped inmate John Modie has been arrested late Monday evening. 2016-03-29 21:15 1KB abcnews.go.com 37 Friends of activist concerned after SMS claims he was kidnapped Friends of activist Vusi Oldman Mahlangu are concerned after they received a SMS claiming that he had been kidnapped and was "in a dark place". 2016-03-29 21:15 2KB www.news24.com 38 4 killed in wrong-way crash on Turnpike in Raleigh County West Virginia State Police believe alcohol may have factored into a wrong-way crash in Raleigh County that killed four people, including two juveniles. 2016-03-29 21:01 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 39 Charges filed after man died while playing with a revolver Prosecutors have filed charges after a man died while playing with a firearm in central Missouri. 2016-03-29 18:04 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 40 Police seeking info on killing of man; body dumped on street Authorities are seeking information about the activities of a man who was an apparent homicide victim and whose body was dumped on a street in north Phoenix. 2016-03-29 19:30 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 41 Minot city manager defends ethics of city employees Minot’s city manager is defending the ethics of city officials in the wake of criticism by the principal planner who quit after less than three weeks on the job. 2016-03-29 19:30 2KB www.washingtontimes.com 42 Democrats say special session needed to address budget woes Democratic leaders in the North Dakota Legislature are asking Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple to call a special session to address the state’s budget woes. 2016-03-29 20:57 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 43 Row over 'EU criminals in UK' claim EU exit campaigners release a list of 50 foreign criminals they say were allowed into the UK under freedom of movement rules - but opponents accuse them of "scaremongering". 2016-03-29 18:55 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 44 Judith Nibbs 'decapitated by jealous partner' in Hoxton A jealous man beheaded the mother of his two children in an act of "pure hatred", a court hears. 2016-03-29 18:55 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 45 Mattel fought elusive cyber-thieves to get $3M out of China The email seemed unremarkable: a routine request by Mattel Inc.’s chief executive for a new vendor payment to China. 2016-03-29 20:53 4KB www.washingtontimes.com

46 WHO urges more oversight in wake of China vaccine scandal China must exert stronger oversight over vaccines sold on the private market in the wake of a developing scandal involving expired or improperly stored vaccines, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. 2016-03-29 20:53 2KB www.washingtontimes.com 47 Glastonbury: ZZ Top and New Order join festival line-up ZZ Top and New Order are among a raft of acts confirmed to perform at this year's Glastonbury Festival. 2016-03-29 22:22 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 48 Life in Rotherham after child abuse revelations When revelations of large-scale child abuse in Rotherham were reported in 2014, the perception of the town changed for many. What has it been like for those living locally? 2016-03-29 22:22 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 49 “If this is battery then I should have been arrested many times”: Trump’s Twitter supporters run to Corey Lewandowski’s defense after he’s charged #IStandWithCorey is proof positive that even if presented with indisputable evidence, the Trump Train chugs onward VIDEO 2016-03-29 22:22 2KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 50 Pushing people around is what Trump’s all about: The gangster candidate won’t fire Lewandowski over his assault arrest because they want to make their own rules The Trump campaign won't fire Corey Lewandowski, because that would be seen as giving into political correctness VIDEO 2016-03-29 22:22 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 51 Trump campaign: Corey Lewandowski is “confident that he will be exonerated” In a press release and on his personal Twitter, Trump maintained his campaign manager's innocence, despite video 2016-03-29 19:44 1KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 52 Donald Trump slouches towards Bethlehem: We’re witnessing the birth of new American politics The GOP is in shambles. The Democratic Party may not be far behind. Is the beginning of the end of our democracy? 2016-03-29 12:50 8KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 53 Half of all Americans support Ted Cruz’s plan to patrol Muslim neighborhoods Another 45 percent call for a return to waterboarding to fight terrorism, days after an attack in Brussels 2016-03-29 22:22 2KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 54 David Brooks finally gets it: He nails the roots of Trump’s toxic sexism — but avoids addressing its consequences Brooks catches up on Trump's misogyny, but somehow misses that in practice, it's more than just rude words 2016-03-29 22:22 2KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 55 Pacifism in an age of terror: Author of fascinating new book explores the relationship between violence and freedom Professor and author Dustin Howes challenges the axiom that force is needed to defend freedom 2016-03-29 22:22 11KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 56 Asad Shah death: Man in court charged with murder A man appears in court charged with the murder of a shopkeeper in the south side of Glasgow. 2016-03-29 19:30 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 57 Florida’s hideous new anti-Planned Parenthood law would send women to school nurses for healthcare instead Gov. Rick Scott is poised to sign a bill into law that would do much more than just punish women seeking abortions 2016-03-29 19:23 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 58 Police: Woman involved in 2-car Springfield crash dies A woman seriously hurt in a two-car crash in Springfield last weekend has died. 2016-03-29 18:08 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 59 Can Micro Bit replicate BBC Micro success? The BBC Micro has become an iconic piece of kit so, as the corporation launches Micro Bit, can it replicate its success? 2016-03-29 19:28 6KB www.bbc.co.uk 60 Jeh Johnson: 2016 campaign rhetoric about Muslims is ‘counterproductive’ Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Tuesday that recent rhetoric about Muslims by 2016 GOP presidential candidates has been “counterproductive” to the United States’ homeland security and national security interests. 2016-03-29 18:08 3KB www.washingtontimes.com 61 A&E strike should be suspended, say medical leaders Medical leaders say the planned all-out strike by junior doctors in England at the end of April could be damaging to patients and should be suspended. 2016-03-29 19:28 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 62 Leaving EU 'devastating for young', says Nicky Morgan A vote to leave the European Union would have a devastating impact on the life chances of young people, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan warns. 2016-03-29 19:27 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 63 The Vocabularist: Three different meanings of mail Do email, chainmail and blackmail have a common origin? Probably not. 2016-03-29 19:27 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 64 The strange silence about Hillarymania: Clinton fires up voters more than Bernie does, so why is no one talking about it? More Clinton supporters are enthusiastic than those backing Sanders, but the media won't tell you that 2016-03-29 18:55 4KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 65 Donald Trump's campaign manager charged with simple battery Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was arrested and charged in Jupiter, Florida, with simple battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, according to police. 2016-03-29 20:34 1KB rss.cnn.com 66 Here’s why North Carolina’s GOP governor is ignoring the backlash to the state’s new attack on LGBT people A similar anti-LGBT bill was vetoed by Georgia's Republican governor. But not North Carolina. Thank Citizens United 2016-03-29 22:22 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 67 “I put on weight. Big f**king deal”: Wentworth Miller shuts down body-shamers over cruel meme The actor uses a cruel meme made from 2010 paparrazi photos to speak out about mental health 2016-03-29 22:22 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 68 Should diplomats still have immunity? Diplomatic immunity puts officials from overseas above the law of the country in which they live. Is the system open to abuse? 2016-03-29 19:29 8KB www.bbc.co.uk

69 Ann Coulter begins to sour on Donald Trump: “Our candidate is mental!” There is apparently a low, too low even for Ann Coulter -- and Trump just reached it VIDEO 2016-03-29 22:22 2KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 70 Tata to decide fate of UK steelworks Steel giant Tata is holding a board meeting in India which could decide the fate of thousands of UK workers. 2016-03-29 18:55 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 71 NUT says tackling teacher shortage 'should be priority' A teachers' union says tackling staff shortages should be the priority rather than "politically motivated" projects such as academies. 2016-03-29 18:55 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 72 “Batman v. Superman” isn’t a flop: A superhero movie that questions absolute power is tailor-made for 2016 With a record-breaking opening weekend, we shouldn't completely write off Zack Snyder's hero film as dumb spectacle 2016-03-29 19:28 5KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 73 Bongbong backs Arroyo's bid to seek treatment abroad PAMPANGA - Vice presidential aspirant Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. supports former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her desire to seek medical treatment abroad. 2016-03-29 19:14 3KB news.abs-cbn.com 74 US-Turkey: The strained alliance Rarely have relations between the US and one of its key Nato allies been so poor as those between Washington and Ankara, says Jonathan Marcus. 2016-03-29 19:51 6KB www.bbc.co.uk 75 Brazil's PMDB party quits ruling coalition Brazil's Democratic Movement Party votes to leave the ruling coalition, increasing the risk President Rousseff will face impeachment. 2016-03-29 19:19 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 76 Cracked iPhone: Should you be worried? What are the implications of the announcement that the FBI managed to get data off a password-protected iPhone without Apple's help? 2016-03-29 18:47 6KB www.bbc.co.uk 77 In pictures: Online community award-winning images Winning images showcase the diversity of workplaces around the world. 2016-03-29 12:50 793Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 78 PNoy defends anew gov't Yolanda response MANILA - President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday defended anew his administration's response in the aftermath of super typhoon "Yolanda" during a graduation program of local government planners from provinces affected by the storm. 2016-03-29 18:54 4KB news.abs-cbn.com 79 Comelec powerless to stop Pacquiao-Bradley fight broadcast MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has no power to stop the broadcast of the impending match of senatorial aspirant Manny Pacquiao to Timothy Bradley, the Comelec en banc ruled Tuesday. 2016-03-29 18:54 2KB news.abs-cbn.com 80 Gabriela pickets SC, urges junking of K-12 MANILA - Women's advocacy group Gabriela staged a picket at the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday to call for the junking of government's K-12 new basic education program. 2016-03-29 18:54 1KB news.abs-cbn.com 81 Pentagon orders military families out of Turkey The U. S. military has ordered military family members to evacuate southern Turkey, primarily from Incirlik Air Base, due to security concerns, the Pentagon said Tuesday. 2016-03-29 20:15 1004Bytes rss.cnn.com 82 Court extends detention of IDF soldier suspected of murdering Palestinian attacker Protest rally for soldier outside of military court; soldier receives two-day remand extension. 2016-03-29 20:14 5KB www.jpost.com 83 Library of Congress cancels ‘illegal aliens’ subject heading The Library of Congress is no longer using the heading “illegal aliens” in bibliographic records, thanks to a request from Dartmouth College students. 2016-03-29 20:13 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 84 Turkey sees drop in foreign visitors after attacks ANKARA, Turkey — The number of tourists visiting Turkey dropped by 10 percent in February compared to last year, in a worrying sign for the country whose economy relies on tourism 2016-03-29 20:10 879Bytes newsinfo.inquirer.net 85 Good explanation of the new law passed during NC General Assembly’s special session KMorgan 1182 posts 2016-03-29 19:09 1KB www.thetribunepapers.com 86 High-speed train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to be completed by 2018 NIS 1.82 billion invested in project to connect cities in 28 minutes. 2016-03-29 20:06 2KB www.jpost.com 87 Indonesia says 10 citizens held hostage after ship hijacked JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia said Tuesday that 10 of its citizens are being held hostage in the Philippines after their ship was hijacked in the often-insecure border region between the 2016-03-29 20:06 928Bytes globalnation.inquirer.net 88 Warmer weather means insect hatching earlier in Illinois Farmers are seeing more insects than normal for this time of year because of warmer weather. 2016-03-29 20:04 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 89 RSS doesn't serve for publicity: Mohan Bhagwat The RSS does not do service for publicity, its chief Mohan Bhagwat said today. 2016-03-29 20:03 1KB www.mid-day.com 90 “My Springsteen sin” apology rings hollow: Wheelchair scam to score concert tickets isn’t funny — and this “confession” does even more harm Billboard writer's "public apology" for faking a disability to get into '84 Springsteen show sets conversation back 2016-03-29 22:22 5KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 91 Deonar dumping ground fire: Mumbai top cop assures help to BMC chief The Commissioner of Police D Padsalgikar on Tuesday gave an assurance to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta that all necessary help in the case of Deonar dumping ground will be extended by the Mumbai police 2016-03-29 20:00 1KB www.mid-day.com 92 Pet insurance claims hit record number The number of pet owners claiming on insurance policies reaches a new record, with 911,000 claims being made in 2015. 2016-03-29 12:50 1KB www.bbc.co.uk

93 Watch: Belgians protect Israeli flag at memorial for Brussels attacks Amid the display of national and international unity in the wake of the deadly attacks in Brussels, a few people went out of their way to exclude Israel 2016-03-29 19:56 4KB www.jpost.com 94 Affirmative action for immigrants in civil service moves forward Final regulations exempting experienced immigrant dentists from an exam approved. 2016-03-29 19:55 5KB www.jpost.com 95 Coroner says Belton baby’s death at day care an accident A coroner says a baby’s death at an Anderson County day care was accidental, but likely could have been prevented if the infant had been placed on his back to sleep. 2016-03-29 19:54 1KB www.washingtontimes.com 96 Let’s all laugh at Ann Coulter: She’s slamming Trump now, but right-wing loudmouth proudly defended his demented ideas Coulter's called Trump the only hope for "the last genuinely Christian country," but now says he's "mental" VIDEO 2016-03-29 22:22 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 97 Waterways transport on Mithi river mooted Maharashtra government will send a proposal to start water transport on Mithi river to the National Inland Waterways Authority, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said 2016-03-29 19:53 1KB www.mid-day.com 98 New York Uber Drivers Protest Rate Cuts - In Photos: The Rideshare Uprising Around The World Uber drivers protest the company's fare cuts and go on strike in front of the car service's New York offices on February 1, 2016. The drivers said Uber continued to cut into their earnings without cutting into its own take from each ride. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) 2016-03-29 20:05 1KB www.forbes.com 99 Hillary Clinton aide: Bernie Sanders' demand a 'public stunt' Hillary Clinton's spokeswoman says Bernie Sanders' proposal for an additional Democratic debate before the New York primary is a "public stunt. " 2016-03-29 19:51 1KB rss.cnn.com 100 Warning over 'nasty' ransomware strain The FBI is seeking help from US firms that might be vulnerable to a nasty strain of ransomware, Reuters reports. 2016-03-29 18:55 3KB www.bbc.co.uk Articles

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-03-30 00:01

1 Egypt plane drama ends: hijacker arrested, passengers freed (2.00/3) LARNACA, Cyprus — An Egyptian man wearing a fake explosives belt who hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and forced it to land in Cyprus on Tuesday has surrendered and was taken into custody after he released all passengers and crew unharmed.

Arrested Egyptian hijacker's suicide belt was fake timeslive.co.za 2016-03-29 23:04 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

2 Failed first half chances jar North Koreans Perfection proved to be the undoing for the North Korean side as it fell to the Philippines, 3-2, in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifying Tuesday at Rizal Memorial Stadium. Wanting to follow its game plan to a tee, coach Kim Chang Bok admitted that his side were rattled after his squad failed to score twice against the commendable Azkals defense in the first half. “The problem in the first half is that we lost two chances of scoring and that became the turning point in terms of our spirit and making our strategy perfect,” he said. READ: Azkals showed Filipino spirit in character win, says Ramsay The Philippines stayed in step with the North Koreans for the whole game, as both teams had nine shots on goal. Though North Korea was able to grab a 2-1 lead at the 48th minute, Kim said that the changes in the Azkals’ lineup also was a factor in the late stages of the game. “This time, there were players that didn’t show up and they were obviously preparing for today’s match. They did very well,” he said, noting the insertion of forward Miguel Tanton to the starting lineup and the entry of James Younghusband as a substitute late in the game. READ: GALLERY: Philippine Azkals slip past North Korea “When we were competing in Pyongyang, we know we were more powerful than the Philippine team. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen today. But I still think our players did quite well,” said Kim. North Korea now settles at second place in Group H with 16 points on five wins and a draw, still with a chance to advance to the third round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

GALLERY: Philippine Azkals slip past North Korea sports.inquirer.net Azkals stun North Korea behind late goals sports.inquirer.net 2016-03-30 00:01 Randolph B sports.inquirer.net

3 Azkals showed Filipino spirit in character win, says Ramsay Though the one to nail the dramatic winner in the Azkals’ 3-2 conquest over North Korea on Tuesday, Iain Ramsay said that the team will always be the front and center in every success of the squad. “I think regardless on who would’ve scored for the team, it will still be a great feeling,” he said. The Fil-Aussie midfielder was left unmarked when Javier Patino flipped him the ball as he scored the match-clinching goal at the 90th minute. READ: GALLERY: Philippine Azkals slip past North Korea “It’s always a nice feeling to score the winner, given the circumstances we’re in, as well as us being against a tough opponent,” said Ramsay. “I’m happy to score the goal, but I’m just happy to come in the second half, contribute to the team, help them fight to the very end and get the win.” It was also a sweet victory for the Azkals, who had to fight from behind after the fancied Korean squad took a 2-1 lead at the 48th minute. “A lot of people thought we’ll probably lose that game. It might be cliche but we showed the Filipino spirit,” he said. “We might not like the circumstances, but we stayed together and fought hard until the very end and we showed it tonight. We had a great team performance.” READ: Blitz goals help Azkals shock North Koreans Fighting from behind for the majority of the second half, the Philippine squad stayed the course and, eventually, stole the match with two goals in the last 10 minutes. “What got us the win today was the character we showed,” said Ramsay. “We kept on believing that we’ll get something out of the game and we did.” The Azkals finished their campaign in the second round of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers at third place in Group H with 10 points from three wins and a draw, enough to propel the team to the third round of the Asian Cup.

2016-03-30 00:01 Randolph B sports.inquirer.net

4 Hit by theft, LTO warns vs fake plates A “skinny” thief broke into the Land Transportation Office (LTO) on East Avenue, Quezon City, over the Holy Week break and stole cut and uncut aluminum sheets that could be used to make at least 15,000 duplicate license plates for vehicles. The incident prompted LTO spokesperson Jason Salvador to issue a warning against fake vehicle plates and to report these cases to the agency. According to the LTO, the stolen aluminum sheets are used in making the old green-and-white license plates that are issued as duplicates for lost plates. Rogelio Buduan of the LTO Plate Making Plant told the Inquirer on Tuesday that the theft was discovered after employees of the LTO main office returned to work on Monday following the four-day Holy Week break. A check showed that 10,000 plate-sized cut sheets were missing, along with 1,250 uncut aluminum sheets. Each uncut sheet can be turned into four license plates. “We were conscious of the long vacation because there had been a precedent of missing plates. We’ve put markings to know if the stock’s been tampered with,” Buduan said. “When we entered [the storage] after the flag ceremony, we saw that some of the boxes [containing the aluminum sheets had been] upended,” he added. Police findings The report of the Kamuning police station said that “during [a] thorough inspection of the spacious plant, [they found out that a] welded iron plate bar used to seal off the exhaust [vent had been] forcibly opened, making an entry [point] for a possible skinny suspect.” In 2013, the Department of Transportation and Communications bid out a contract for new standardized license plates. However, the Commission on Audit disallowed the P3.8-billion contract with Power Plates Development Concepts Inc. and Dutch firm J. Knieriem BV-Goes last year. This has hampered the issuance of the new black-and-white license plates.

2016-03-30 00:01 Erika Sauler newsinfo.inquirer.net

5 Brian Poe thanks mom’s allies in San Juan but bashed online On the night presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe received an endorsement from reelectionist Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, she also got the express support of the Estrada family’s political ally-turned-nemesis, the Zamoras of San Juan City. But since Poe was in Manila for Estrada’s proclamation rally, it was her son Brian who went onstage to formally thank the Zamoras on Monday night, addressing a crowd of around 2,000 on behalf of his mother. The 24-year-old Brian enumerated his mother’s programs as a Presidential wannabe: the continuation and expansion of the 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program), the reduction of income tax, and free lunch for public school pupils, among others. He also harped on his mother being an independent and the only Palace contender who hails from Greenhills, San Juan. But while he drew applause during the Zamoras’ proclamation rally in Barangay Kabayanan, Brian took a bashing on social media over the lingering issue of Poe’s nationality and that of her family. Reacting to Brian’s statement that his mother, once elected, would immediately form a commission that will look into tax reforms, Twitter user @Negastarr asked whether that panel will be “in the Philippines or in the US of A?” Some netizens also questioned Brian’s very participation in his mother’s campaign. “His (sic) American. Hindi ba bawal ‘yang ginagawa nya? (What he’s doing is illegal, right?)” @biacoron24 said. “It’s normal for Brian Poe not to know what he’s talking (about). After all he is a US citizen,” @ferdspal said. “Hi Brian! Sinung iboboto mo, (who are you voting for?) Clinton or Trump?” @RodmyrDatoon said. Brian also actively campaigned for his mother when she ran for senator in 2013, but this kind of heckling hardly hounded them back then. At Monday’s program in San Juan, Brian finished his speech without directly endorsing his hosts, Vice Mayor Francis Zamora and his father Rep. Ronaldo Zamora. The younger Zamora is challenging the incumbent Mayor Guia Gomez (mother to Estrada scion Sen. JV Ejercito), while the elder is seeking another House term against another Estrada clan member. Brian just reminded the audience that he is a nephew of Francis, whose wife Keri is a cousin of Brian’s father, Neil. Sought for comment regarding the Poe camp’s apparent tiptoeing on who to support in San Juan, Francis Zamora said what is clear is that the Zamoras are supporting Poe while the Gomez camp is backing the administration candidate, Mar Roxas. “It’s up to you to read between the lines and analyze the situation. I don’t think Brian will go here just for the sake of going here,” Zamora told reporters. “We are showing our support for Grace Poe and [his] coming here is a show of support for us.” The Zamoras and the Estradas parted ways last year after the former alleged that their longtime political allies dumped them to give way to the candidacies of Councilor Janella Estrada and former Councilor Jana Ejercito, who are running for vice mayor and congresswoman, respectively. For Francis Zamora, the 2016 elections may be the toughest political battle for the Estradas. “They are fighting two fronts—in San Juan and Manila. When you become too greedy, everything can go crashing down,” he said.

2016-03-30 00:01 Jovic Yee newsinfo.inquirer.net

6 DOH defers Orthopedic Center upgrade; no deal takers under PPP The Department of Health (DOH) has put on hold the modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (POC) under the public private partnership (PPP) program, drawing instead some P100 million from its own funds to spruce up the aging hospital. Health Secretary Janette Garin said that after Megawide World Citi Consortium Inc. (MWCCI) terminated its contract in November, the health department promised to provide financial assistance for the improvement of the 70-year-old POC in Quezon City. “We initially allotted around P100 million and we will just augment it as the need arises,” Garin said in a recent interview with reporters. “There has been no takers (of the modernization contract) so what we are doing currently is we are improving the hospital.” The health chief said private firms were disinterested because of the “70-30” patient classification to be adopted by the hospital, in which a large bulk of the services will still be offered to government-funded cases and indigents enrolled in the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth). The government had to make sure that 70 percent of the 700 beds will still be dedicated to the poor while the rest will be for patients who can afford to pay, she said. “We will not bid it out because there are no takers due to the patient classification. If there will be any, of course they want to earn but it’s impossible for them to enter into the PPP if they will not make money,” Garin explained. She said the DOH had stopped moves to modernize the hospital under the PPP program “because the government is not backtracking on the mandatory 70-30 (arrangement). So because of this, the POC modernization is not really moving forward.” In November, Megawide decided to terminate the Build-Operate-Transfer agreement with DOH, which was signed in March 2014, due to the two-year delay in the awarding of the Certificate of Possession, among others. Following the contract’s termination, Garin explained that the “DOH cannot abandon its duty of ensuring the care of our indigent patients in the POC if their place of transfer cannot be assured.”

2016-03-30 00:01 Jocelyn R newsinfo.inquirer.net

7 Durolfo death: Test proves drug use but… Although she tested positive for amphetamine—a “dangerous drug” and possible component of ecstasy—this did not prove that Edgel Joy Durolfo died of a drug overdose as claimed by the four suspects charged with her death. Angelo Niño Santos, the lawyer of the victim’s family, said on Tuesday that the results of the toxicology analysis conducted by the Southern Police District’s Crime Laboratory only indicated that it may be true that Durolfo and her companions—Rodney Ynchausti, Molo Hwang, Josiebell Uy and Paul Egoc—took ecstasy pills when they partied inside a room at the Solaire Resort and Casino on Feb. 25. This was hours before the 26-year-old Solaire assistant manager was brought to the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Pasay City where she passed away the following day. “[The toxicology report] only shows [Durolfo] is positive for amphetamine, a dangerous drug…. Assuming, let’s work on the theory they all took ecstasy. [The results on her will really turn out] positive,” said Santos. He spoke to reporters after a hearing at the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office which is conducting a preliminary investigation of the murder charges filed against Ynchausti, Hwang, Uy and Egoc. The one-page report prepared by Senior Insp. Rendielyn Sahagun, forensic chemist at the SPD Crime Lab, said that the positive results came from an analysis of Durolfo’s blood and urine samples. A screening test on the contents of her stomach, on the other hand, came up negative for “dangerous drugs.” According to Santos, the autopsy report initially released by the police already showed that Durolfo’s cause of death was [asphyxia due to] manual strangulation, the same one listed in the death certificate issued by the hospital. He said that while the suspects’ lawyers were “free to contest” these results, these were “conclusive.” “There are two institutions which already concluded that is the cause of death,” Santos told reporters, noting that neither of the suspects had offered an explanation on why Durolfo had “bruises, bite marks and beatings.” Their defense consisted only of denials which he described as a “weak defense.” The suspects earlier said that the victim had bumped into furniture while jumping and dancing inside the hotel room. “Something really happened inside [that hotel room] which they refused to disclose…. Yes, definitely [they are trying to hide something]. And they are all in cahoots in this,” Santos said. However, Ynchausti’s lawyer, who also spoke to reporters after the proceedings, said that neither his client nor any of the other suspects had committed foul play. “Even all the witnesses will attest to that. They may be guilty of something but it’s not murder. Definitely not murder,” Pelagio Lawrence Cuison said. He added that his client “doesn’t understand why the [autopsy] report [pointed to] strangulation because he really didn’t strangle his fiancée.” “And no one actually did. We [also] don’t understand the [findings in the] medico-legal [report]. We intend to address that in [my client’s] counteraffidavit,” he said.

Hotel manager’s positive drug test does not mean she died of overdose – lawyer newsinfo.inquirer.net 2016-03-30 00:01 Kristine Felisse newsinfo.inquirer.net

8 Police Probe If Wind Played Role in Fatal 7-Story Fall Police are investigating whether powerful wind gusts played a role in the death of a man who fell off the roof of a 7-story office building in New Jersey. The building manager at the Glenpointe office complex in Teaneck was found on the ground around 7 a.m. Tuesday. Detective Capt. John Faggello tells The Record (bit.ly/22XWLZu) newspaper authorities believe the 56-year-old had gone up to the roof to check for damage from the strong winds overnight. Police are investigating whether he was blown off the roof and hit a tree in the fall. The National Weather Service recorded a peak wind gust in the area of 32 mph around the time of the accident. His name has not been released because police were still notifying relatives. ——— Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N. J.), http://www.northjersey.com

2016-03-30 00:00 By abcnews.go.com

9 Justices seem to seek compromise in birth control case WASHINGTON (AP) - A seemingly divided Supreme Court is exploring a possible compromise ruling in the dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control. The justices issued an unusual order Tuesday directing both sides in the case that was argued last week to file a new round of legal briefs. They’re asked to examine the minimum the groups must do in order to register their objection to paying for contraception. The Obama administration wants to ensure that women covered under the groups’ health plans have access to cost-free birth control. The court set an April 20 deadline, suggesting that the justices want to resolve the case by late June. A 4-4 tie would leave different rules in place in different parts of the country because lower courts have issued conflicting rulings. Another option is to leave the issue unsettled until a ninth justice is confirmed to take the place of Justice Antonin Scalia. The administration devised what it has called a generous moral and financial buffer to spare the not-for-profit colleges, charities and advocacy groups from any involvement in the provision of contraceptives to which they object on religious grounds. But the groups complain that they remain complicit in the process because they have to object to the contraceptive coverage by notifying the government or their insurer. The groups say the process triggers the government’s hijacking of their health plans - a description Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy also used during last week’s arguments. In the order Tuesday, the court asked both sides to discuss whether contraceptive coverage could be provided without the groups having to object at all. The court even suggested a way this could happen. The nonprofit groups could tell their insurance company at the time they arrange for health insurance that they don’t want to include some or all contraceptive coverage, the court said. Armed with that knowledge, the insurer would notify people covered by the health plan that contraceptive coverage would come directly from the insurer, with no money from or involvement by the nonprofit’s health plan. Mark Rienzi, a lawyer for groups, called the order “an excellent development.” Rienzi said it shows the court recognizes that “the government’s current scheme forces them to violate their religion.” Contraception is among a range of preventive services that must be provided at no extra charge under the 2010 health care overhaul. The unsigned order appears to be a search for a way to reconcile the groups’ religious objections with the requirement that women have easy access to birth control, and to do so in the existing framework of employer-based health plans. Eight federal appeals courts have ruled that the accommodation crafted by the administration does not violate the groups’ religious rights, while the 8th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis is the only one that has ruled it does. Houses of worship and other religious institutions whose primary purpose is to spread the faith are exempt from the birth control requirement.

2016-03-29 23:57 FILE www.washingtontimes.com

10 Video: Good Samaritans Rescue Trapped People From Burning Car Now Playing: ARCHIVAL VIDEO: Patty Duke Seeks to Promote Understanding of Manic Depression in 1989 Now Playing: Police Escort Lost 88-Year-Old More Than 100 Miles Back Home Now Playing: Georgia Governor Said He Will Veto 'Anti-LGBT' Bill Now Playing: Nearly $200M in Cocaine Found on US-Bound Semi-Sub Now Playing: US Capitol on Lockdown After Shots Were Fired Now Playing: Demo Company Apologizes After Tearing Down Wrong House Now Playing: U. S. Capitol on Lockdown Now Playing: Eyewitness React to U. S. Capitol Shooting Now Playing: Teacher Appears to Knock Boy Over in Video

2016-03-29 23:52 ABC News abcnews.go.com

11 Bevin: Democrats hurt budget process by not negotiating FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Tensions between Republicans and Democrats over Kentucky’s $65 billion-plus spending plan escalated overnight, with the Republican governor blaming Democratic House leaders for refusing to negotiate, and the legislators themselves trading pointed verbal barbs. After Democratic House Speaker Greg Stumbo told reporters Monday night he did not believe lawmakers would be able to agree on the budget before the legislature adjourns for the year, Gov. Matt Bevin called a morning news conference to say Stumbo was not being truthful. Bevin said he and Republican legislative leaders are indeed willing to compromise to pass a budget, and he urged reporters not to be deceived by Stumbo’s bluffs. “We are not going into special session,” Bevin said. “There will be tremendous pain inflicted on the people of Kentucky if the speaker does not sit down and come up with a budget. It is up to him.” Minutes later, Stumbo and House Democrats offered a compromise during a tense budget meeting before TV cameras and then asked Republican senators to offer Bevin’s counterproposal. “The governor is not here. He’s not part of this (committee),” Republican Senate President Robert Stivers replied. Bevin had proposed taking $500 million from a state employee health insurance fund and setting it aside to spend on future public pension debt. The House Democrats’ proposal would set aside $250 million for pensions, and put the rest back in the general fund. With an estimated debt of more than $30 billion, the pension plans are among the worst funded in the country. The $250 million could only be spent after an audit of all of Kentucky’s public retirement systems is completed. The proposal would leave Kentucky with just over $300 million in reserves. But the proposal would spend less on the retirement systems overall than previous versions of the budget because it would not cut funding for colleges, universities and K-12 education. It would restore $8.9 million in cuts to state constitutional offices like the Secretary of State, who handles state business filings, and the Attorney General who investigates and prosecutes crime. It would transfer an extra $36.4 million to the state court system to address what Chief Justice John Minton said is a potentially crippling deficit. And it would spend $25 million on a program to give free community college tuition to Kentucky’s high school graduates. “We think that this is a reasonable compromise,” Democratic budget chairman Rick Rand said. “It gives the governor what he wants, his contribution to the pension systems. … And it allows us to move education forward in this state.” Republicans said they were skeptical of the plan because it would take $250 million from a state employee health insurance fund and use spend it on operating costs for state government. And Republican Stivers criticized Democrats’ proposal for including $44 million on things like swimming pools and golf courses. “If y’all think good policy is $100,000 in maintenance for a golf course two years in a row, if y’all can stand up and legitimately say that is good policy, I’ll believe it,” Stivers said. Stumbo looked at Stivers for a moment and said: “It’s as good as policy as that swimming pool they named after you, if you want to get personal about it,” a reference to the Stivers Aquatic and Wellness Center in Barbourville. The state legislature has three days left to pass a budget. Lawmakers plan to meet Tuesday and again on April 11 and 12, but they can adjust the calendar as needed. If they pass a budget in April, by law they would not be able to override any of Bevin’s potential budget vetoes. Asked Tuesday if he would be willing to promise lawmakers he would not veto any portions of the budget, Bevin said that would be an abdication of his responsibilities as governor. “That would be silly,” he said.

2016-03-29 23:50 Republican Gov www.washingtontimes.com

12 Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit attack site in India LONDON (AP) - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are embarking on what is seen as one of their most ambitious tours to date - taking in the Taj Mahal as well as visiting the Mumbai hotel targeted by gunmen in the 2008 attacks that killed 166 people. Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, will visit the monument of love, the Taj Mahal, during the tour to India and Bhutan from April 10-April 16, Kensington Palace said Tuesday. The visit should have special resonance for William because his mother, the late Princess Diana, was photographed there alone - an image that came to underscore the breakup of her marriage with Prince Charles. “He feels incredibly lucky to visit a place where his mother’s memory is kept alive by so many who travel there,” the Cambridges’ communications secretary Jason Knauf said. “Twenty-four years on from her visit to the Taj, the duke and the duchess are looking forward to seeing this beautiful place for themselves and creating some new memories as they say thank you to the people of India at the conclusion of this tour.” The trip will also include a somber moment at the Taj Palace Hotel, one of the scenes of the Mumbai attacks. The royal couple will lay a wreath and meet members of the staff who helped protect guests during the attack. The visit will be their first to India and Bhutan. They will not be taking their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. The royal couple will also attend a Bollywood charity event and pay their respects to Mahatma Gandhi at the place where he was assassinated in 1948. In a nod to William’s conservation efforts, the couple will also travel to Kaziranga National Park in the state of Assam. The park is home to two-thirds of the world’s population of Indian one- horned rhinos as well as endangered swamp deer. In Bhutan, the couple will meet the king and queen of the small landlocked country in the shadow of the Himalayan peaks. The duke and duchess will hike five to six hours in total for a visit to Paro Taktsang, the Tiger’s Nest monastery that dates to 1692.

2016-03-29 23:47 Kate Duchess www.washingtontimes.com

13 13 Rio Grande irrigation water reaches Las Cruces LAS CRUCES, N. M. (AP) - Water released from reservoirs along the Rio Grande has passed through the Las Cruces area faster than expected, signaling the river channel is wetter because of local precipitation. The dam at Caballo Reservoir was opened Saturday and by Sunday afternoon, the water was rolling by Las Cruces and was well on its way to El Paso, Texas. Federal water managers tell the Las Cruces Sun-News (http://bit.ly/1WUOge9) that they had to dial back the volume of water being released because they were about a day ahead of schedule. Officials say the water traveling faster means less of it was soaking into the river bed due to increased precipitation. The water table is also higher, possibly thanks to an improved irrigation season last year. With less water soaking in, officials say more will be available for irrigation. ___ Information from: Las Cruces Sun-News, http://www.lcsun-news.com

2016-03-29 23:46 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

14 Judge orders Norman to release requested city email records NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - A judge has ordered the city of Norman to turn over public records requested by two residents who filed a joint suit against the city, alleging a violation of the Oklahoma Open Records Act. The Norman Transcript (http://bit.ly/22L2x43 ) reports that district Judge Jeff Virgin granted a motion for a temporary injunction that requires the city to release email records between members of city staff, City Council and oil and gas industry groups, as well as other oil stakeholders. Casey Holcomb and Darcie Woodson requested the injunction. They’ll have to post a $100 bond to receive the records digitally. The city had originally requested fees of several hundred dollars for printing costs in response to the separate Open Records requests that the pair had made. “They were going to try to bury me in paper,” Holcomb said. “Our attorney was able to successfully argue that they should provide those records in digital format.” Assistant City Attorney Rick Knighton said Holcomb’s request was so broad that it required review of more than 10,000 documents. “The City of Norman routinely complies with public information requests and only attempts to recover reasonable fees in those instances where the request involves multiple hours of staff time in reviewing and copying documents, as in the request which will result in more than 10,000 documents,” Knighton said. Holcomb said he expects to receive the records from Knighton by the end of the week. ___ Information from: The Norman Transcript, http://www.normantranscript.com 2016-03-29 23:46 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

15 Belgium accused of string of attacks blunders Following the release on Monday of the only man charged over the Brussels airport and metro attacks, here are some of the key errors: In one of the most embarrassing mix-ups to date, Belgium on Monday released a man identified as Faycal C, two days after he had been charged with offences including "terrorist murder". Prosecutors had said they were working on the theory that he could be the third bomber at the airport whose device failed to go off, and who has been dubbed the "man in the hat" on account of the outfit he was seen wearing in security footage. Immigration Minister Theo Francken called him a "jihadi creep" in a tweet on Monday morning, but hours later prosecutors said they were releasing him because of a lack of evidence. Key Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam was questioned for only three hours between his arrest in Brussels on March 18 and the attacks on March 22, raising questions about whether authorities could have done more to extract information from him about his accomplices. Prosecutors said he was asked only about Paris, after which he exercised his right to silence. In a damning revelation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Belgium had ignored warnings from Ankara following the arrest of Ibrahim El Bakraoui near the Syrian border in June 2015. Bakraoui was one of the bombers at Brussels airport. Belgium's police liaison officer in Istanbul was informed he had been arrested but failed to try to get more information about him or his record. Bakraoui was then deported to the Netherlands at his own request, but Turkey only warned the Belgian and Dutch ambassadors at the last minute, too late for authorities to catch him on arrival. Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon and Justice Minister Koen Geens both offered to resign over the matter but Prime Minister Charles Michel asked them to stay on. Bakraoui and his brother Khalid, who blew himself up at Maalbeek metro station, both had records of violent crime. Ibrahim served four years in jail after a gunfight with police while Khalid served jail time for carjacking. After the attacks, prosecutors said that while the two had an extensive criminal record they had no apparent links to terrorism. In reality, Khalid Bakraoui was the subject of an international arrest warrant over the Paris attacks, and both brothers were on US terror watch lists. Belgian soldiers control the access to Zaventem airport after the attacks last week in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2016. Image: REUTERS FRANCOIS LENOIR The morning after the Paris attacks, Abdeslam was able to drive back to Brussels despite being stopped at three police checkpoints in France. Several people were later charged with helping him. At one point, he was reported to have escaped from a house while hidden in a piece of furniture. On another occasion, police were forced to postpone a raid because of a Belgian law banning searches at nighttime. It later emerged that European authorities failed to notify each other when Abdeslam travelled back and forth across Europe alongside several people involved in the cell in the months before the Paris attacks, despite suspicions about him and his brother Brahim, who blew himself up in a bar in the French capital. Abdeslam was finally caught on March 18 -- about a block away from his family home. Traces of his DNA and fingerprints have been found in several other locations around Brussels. Belgian authorities have also come under fire for failing to track jihadists returning from fighting in Syria and Iraq with the Islamic State (IS) group, which claimed both the Paris and Brussels attacks. Abdelhamid Abaaoud -- the ringleader of the Paris attacks who was also in contact with a jihadist cell that was broken up in the Belgian town of Verviers in January 2015 -- featured in IS propaganda talking about his time in Syria and bragging about how he had evaded European security forces. In April 2015, the school in Brussels attended by Bilal Hadfi, another of the Paris bombers, reportedly raised concerns about his radical views and informed education authorities that he had gone to Syria, but the information was not passed on to police. Paris bomb-maker Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up at Brussels airport, had also travelled to Syria. Belgian police issued a wanted notice for Laachraoui the day before the Brussels attacks. The Abdeslam brothers were reportedly questioned by Belgian police after Brahim tried to travel to Syria in 2015, a few months before the Paris attacks, but only got as far as Turkey. However, the pair were released without charge. The Belgian authorities also failed to notify the French authorities, as the two brothers are French nationals. Belgian authorities have long been accused of failing to tackle radicalisation, especially in the gritty, largely North African immigrant district of Molenbeek in Brussels. Many of the Brussels- Paris cell knew each other growing up in the neighbourhood but these links were never fully followed up. Belgian authorities are fighting among themselves about whether they should have stopped the metro system after the airport attacks. The interior minister says he decided to order a halt at 8:50 am, 20 minutes before the metro bombing, but the operator says it never received such an order. - AFP

2016-03-29 23:41 Danny KEMP www.timeslive.co.za

16 The Latest: Group says fear stops some from supporting law RALEIGH, N. C. (AP) - The Latest on a new law in North Carolina that critics have called discriminatory (all times local): 1:30 p.m. A statewide organization that worked to get Charlotte’s nondiscrimination ordinance overturned by the state legislature says hundreds of North Carolina businesses support the new state law but that some are afraid of retaliation if they make that support public. In a press release Tuesday, the NC Values Coalition said bullying from the LGBT community has some business owners afraid for the well-being of their businesses and families if they speak out. The release did not offer any examples to back up that claim. Spokeswoman Kami Mueller said that precedent has been set in other states for businesses owners to have reasonable fear if they speak in support of the state law. The release did have the names of 17 businesses that were willing to be identified as supporting the new law. ___ 11:45 a.m. A top legislative Republican says North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general should resign if he won’t defend a far-reaching new state law that in part voids Charlotte’s anti-discrimination ordinance. Senate Leader Phil Berger said Tuesday that Attorney General Roy Cooper appears to be pandering to left-wing backers as he runs for governor against incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. Berger says Cooper’s campaigning is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general. Berger issued a statement after Cooper said he won’t defend in court the new state law that prevents local governments from adopting anti-discrimination measures for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Cooper says in response to Berger’s comments that he’s doing his job and will keep doing it. ___ 11:15 a.m. North Carolina’s Democratic attorney general is commending Georgia’s Republican governor for vetoing a piece of legislation that critics have called discriminatory. Story Continues →

2016-03-29 23:29 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

17 Spokane City Council members to get 44% raise SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Spokane City Council members will get a 44 percent raise next year, following a decision by the city’s Salary Review Commission. The Spokesman-Review says the commission reviewed salaries of other elected municipal officials in the state, Spokane’s median household income and cost-of-living data. Beginning Jan. 1, the six council members will be paid $45,100, a nearly $14,000 increase over their current annual wage of $31,200. Council President Ben Stuckart will receive a much smaller increase, about $1,400. He will be paid $58,630 a year. Councilwoman Lori Kinnear says the increase was fair considering the amount of work members do. Kinnear says the new wage would make public office more accessible to people who are not retired, independently wealthy or relying on a higher-earning spouse. ___ Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com

2016-03-29 23:29 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

18 For some, leaving workforce continues years after retiring BOULDER, Colo. (AP) - The transition from employment to retirement used to be marked by a date on a calendar, along with some sheet cake, and a maybe a gold watch. Those days are long gone for most workers in the United States. Today, the journey toward complete withdrawal from the labor force can last many years. Economists refer to the transition period as “bridge employment.” As more and more Americans either choose, or are forced, into bridge employment, the expectation of what retirement actually means is rapidly changing. “We shouldn’t even use the word ‘retirement’ any more. It obscures more than it enlightens,” says Boston College economist Joseph Quinn. Quinn’s research has shown that for many seniors today, retirement is not a one-time event, but rather a process. He attributes it to a changing economic picture that encourages more seniors to choose work over leisure. Bridge jobs, Quinn says, “tend to be lower pay and less likely to have pension and health benefits, but since many people are taking these jobs voluntarily, they obviously provide some advantages - most likely flexible hours, since more than half of the bridge jobs are part-time.” According to data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, roughly 6 out of 10 men and women of retirement age don’t plan to leave the labor force when they leave their full-time career jobs. Factors leading to the appeal of bridge jobs include longer life expectancies and less physically demanding work, according to Quinn. His data also suggest the propensity to seek out bridge employment is highest at both ends of the wage spectrum, with blue-collar workers acting out of financial necessity, while wealthier workers think of it more as a lifestyle choice. Laura Thompson drove a bus for 25 years in Detroit before retiring 16 years ago. “For a while I was completely retired,” says Thompson. “But eventually, I just felt like I still had it in me to do something, plus the extra income is nice too.” These days Thompson keeps busy by working part time as a chef at a local homeless shelter. She says the decision was less about necessity, and more about a desire to help out. Still, she says it isn’t uncommon for retired bus drivers to keep working. “Our pensions have already been cut by the city,” Thompson says, “I mean, I could probably scrape by without working, but I don’t want to do that, not if I can help it.” A somewhat open question is whether bridge jobs are truly bridges to retirement or just another job change, perhaps one of many, in a seemingly unending working career. “I don’t want to be too Pollyannaish about bridge jobs because part of this is likely a reaction to the erosion of retirement security in the U. S.,” says Monique Morrissey, an economist with Economic Policy Institute, a Washington-based think tank with ties to organized labor. Morrissey says older Americans are facing a gradual erosion of retirement benefits. Specifically, she points to the transition to 401(k)s over defined-benefit pensions, as well as the eventual increase in the retirement age up to 67, a move she says amounts to an “across-the- board cut in benefits.” The fact that bridge jobs occupy an increasing portion of the labor force suggests that wage income is an increasingly important part of retirement planning for many seniors. The traditional model of a retirement income is a “three-legged stool,” composed of Social Security, pensions and savings. However an analysis of census data by the Social Security Administration found that since the mid-1980s, earnings as percentage of income has more than doubled and is still rising (for people 65 and older). Gloria Adamson, 81, says she never planned to be working this late in life. “I simply have to work,” she says. “Retirement isn’t even in the picture, to tell you the truth.” Story Continues →

2016-03-29 23:28 In this www.washingtontimes.com

19 Gabby Giffords pushes for tougher gun laws in Delaware WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - Former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords is pushing for tougher gun laws in Delaware. Local news media report that Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, joined a new coalition of gun-control advocates at an event at the Central Baptist Church in Wilmington on Monday. The group, called the Delaware Coalition for Common Sense, says it will advocate for legislation aimed at preventing guns from getting into the hands of dangerous people. Among the changes the group is seeking is preventing gun sellers from completing a purchase if a background check takes longer than three days. Giffords was gravely wounded in a shooting at an event in 2011. She said Monday that “now is the time to come together and be responsible” about gun laws.

2016-03-29 22:12 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

20 Obama in Atlanta to address drug overdoses Just One More Thing... We have sent you a verification email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your profile. If you do not receive the verification message within a few minutes of signing up, please check your Spam or Junk folder.

2016-03-29 22:09 Jeremy Redmon www.ajc.com

21 2 bald eagles released after rehabilitation in Delaware DAGSBORO, Del. (AP) - Two bald eagles recently recovered from the fields near Dagsboro have been rehabilitated and released into the wild. The News Journal reports (delonline.us/21QPo3s) that the two birds were among several dead or sick bald eagles discovered in Sussex County earlier this month. A team from Tri-State Bird and Rescue Research Inc. released the last of the two surviving birds on Monday at a field in Sussex County. The other surviving bird, an immature female, was released last week. Lisa Smith, executive director of Tri-State, said the birds were in such bad shape when they first arrived that they “weren’t standing.” Over the next several days, they received both oral and intravenous medicines. Wildlife officials have said they don’t know what caused the eagles to become sick and die. ___ Information from: The News Journal of Wilmington, Del., http://www.delawareonline.com

2016-03-29 23:16 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

22 1 dead after car goes off interstate, lands on vehicle below NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - Police in southwest Idaho say a 64-year-old Nampa man died Tuesday after a car went off an Interstate 84 overpass and landed on his pickup. Authorities say 64-year-old John Pew died at a local hospital after a Chevrolet Impala driven by 21-year-old Tyler Callahan of Weiser went off the overpass at about 5:20 a.m. Police say Callahan and two juvenile passengers in the vehicle were transported by ground ambulance to Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. A hospital spokeswoman says Callahan was in stable condition on Tuesday afternoon. Information about the two juveniles was unavailable. Police say Callahan’s vehicle was westbound when it went off the Interstate and landed on Pew’s vehicle that was traveling north on Northside Boulevard in Nampa. Police are investigating.

2016-03-29 23:07 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

23 Prosecutor: No charges in deadly California balcony collapse SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A California prosecutor has decided against filing criminal charges in a fifth-story balcony collapse in Berkeley last year that killed six students from Ireland and injured seven other people, officials said Tuesday. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said she made her decision after a nine-month investigation that involved state officials and independent experts from the building industry. Investigators determined that water infiltration at the time the balcony was built brought on dry rot and eventually the collapse during a party on June 16. The probe also encompassed witness interviews and a review of building plans, logs, inspection and maintenance records. O’Malley said there was insufficient evidence of any criminal negligence to bring manslaughter charges. “This is not a decision that I came to lightly,” O’Malley said. Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said in a statement that he would review the findings. “My department will carefully consider the details,” his statement said. “While the district attorney’s investigation did not find sufficient proof to take separate criminal proceedings, it has shone a vital light on the circumstances and factors that contributed directly and indirectly to the collapse of the balcony.” He went on to say the investigation was an important step in preventing similar tragedies. Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said his department remains in close contact with the families and will continue to offer them support and assistance. A central component of the investigation involved what is called “destructive testing” of the balconies and the building itself. An outside construction company transported the balconies to a warehouse for the testing. O’Malley said the testing was observed by representatives of the victims and their families, as well as representatives of companies involved in the construction, maintenance, and ownership of the apartment complex. Tests showed the dry rot damage was brought on by materials used and the extremely wet weather in Berkeley when the building was constructed. O’Malley said the responsibility likely extends to many of the parties involved in construction or maintenance of the building. The district attorney’s office intends to work with the California Contractors State License Board in any administrative action pursued against the construction companies and will collaborate with industry leaders and state legislators to consider amending building codes and inspection oversight laws.

2016-03-29 23:07 File www.washingtontimes.com

24 FBI Hacking of iPhone Raises Questions About Method, Who Helped WASHINGTON: The extraordinary legal fight pitting the Obama administration against technology giant Apple ended unexpectedly after the FBI said it used a mysterious method... The extraordinary legal fight pitting the Obama administration against technology giant Apple ended unexpectedly after the FBI said it used a mysterious method without ... SAN FRANCISCO: The US Justice Department said on Monday it had succeeded in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters and dropped its legal case ... The FBI has unlocked the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terror attackers, officials said Monday, ending a heated legal standoff with Apple that had pitted US ... After weeks of the FBI insisting that only Apple could enable it to access encrypted data on the iPhone of San Bernardino terrorism suspect Syed Farook, the law enforcement ... The FBI has unlocked the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino terror attackers, officials said Monday, ending a heated legal standoff with Apple that had pitted US ...

2016-03-29 23:03 article.wn.com

25 25 Yuma County seeing dangerous levels of pollution YUMA, Ariz. (AP) - Yuma County residents with asthma and other breathing disorders should avoid the outdoors today. The National Weather Service has issued a high pollution advisory in the area over strong and gusty winds that are generating blowing dust and coarse particles. The NWS says this poses a health risk and can aggravate heart and lung disease conditions, especially in older adults, children and those with asthma. It recommends decreased physical activity. The advisory recommends residents avoid dirt roads along with fireplaces and gas-powered lawn equipment. The advisory is for Tuesday.

2016-03-29 22:59 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

26 Teenager shot outside Idaho home NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - Authorities say a 17-year-old Caldwell boy has been hospitalized after being shot multiple times outside a residence. The Idaho Statesman reports (http://bit.ly/1ROiJw1 ) that the teenager was shot just before midnight Monday. Caldwell Police say he was taken to West Valley Medical Center and then to a Boise-area trauma center in critical condition. Caldwell detectives say they spent the night interviewing witnesses at the shooting scene. ___ Information from: Idaho Press-Tribune, http://www.idahopress.com

2016-03-29 22:59 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

27 Texas family receive dog tag of WWII soldier killed in Japan VICTORIA, Texas (AP) - A dog tag identifying an American serviceman killed in Japan during World War II has been returned to his surviving family in South Texas. Pfc. Thomas Davis was killed on the island of Okinawa in 1945. His dog tag was discovered on the Pacific island of Saipan in 2014. The Victoria Advocate (http://bit.ly/22XtZZ3 ) reports that members of a Japanese nonprofit that searches Pacific islands for the remains of missing soldiers delivered the tag to Davis’ relatives on Monday in Victoria, Texas. A nephew, also named Thomas Davis, said receiving the tag is bittersweet and expressed surprise that it is still legible after 70 years. Pfc. Davis, of Roachdale, Indiana, served with the Army’s 27th Division, a former New York National Guard unit. Victoria is 120 miles southwest of Houston. ___ Information from: The Victoria Advocate, http://www.victoriaadvocate.com 2016-03-29 21:51 In this www.washingtontimes.com

28 Pacquiao: Warriors will surpass Bulls 72-10 record HOLLYWOOD—When not boxing, Manny Pacquiao is talking basketball. The eight-division world champion’s cage passion was evident Monday as Team Pacquiao’s discussions were centered on the National Basketball Association. During breakfast, Pacquiao predicted that the Golden State Warriors will surpasse the National Basketball Association record of 72 victories for the season set by the 1996 Chicago Bulls spearheaded by the great Michael Jordan and supported by Dream Team member Scottie Pippen and rebound demon Dennis Rodman. “The Warriors can do it because they have too many shooters,” said Pacquiao, referring to reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thomson, Brandon Rush, Draymond Green and Marreese Speights. With 66 victories against seven losses, the Warriors, who trounced the Philadelphia 76ers (117- 105) on Sunday, are on track of eclipsing the 72-10 mark of the Bulls, who eventually won the title. Pacquiao said save for the San Antonio Spurs, the Warriors, who boast a 53-win streak at home, have relatively lighter assignments in their last nine assignments. Of course, the Warriors also need to retain their crown to accentuate their feat. During lunch, topic shifted to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors match they watched at Nat’s Thai Food here. Though Pacquiao and his group, that included 1998 PBA MVP Kenneth Duremdes and former pros Zaldy Realubit, Emerson Oreta and Jose Francisco, were unable to finish the game, they saw the Thunder eventually prevail, 119-110, at the Pacquiao’s home at North Plymouth Blvd. Also widely discussed are the game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Boston Celtics, Pacquiao’s favorite team, that ended in favor of the Clippers, 114-90. Pacquiao’s involvement with basketball, of course, goes back a long time having fielded his own teams in several leagues. Currently, Pacquiao is listed as the playing coach of the Mahindra Enforcers in the Philippine Basketball Association and owns the distinction of being its oldest rookie.

2016-03-29 22:47 Roy Luarca sports.inquirer.net

29 Pogoy has mixed emotions on first Gilas practice And how did it go for the young Cebuano from Far Eastern University? “Nakaka intimidate, pero mababait naman sila,” Pogoy said after the team’s practice at Meralco Gym. “Kabado po, pero okay naman kasi tinuturuan naman nila [the senior members of the team] kami.” Pogoy have attended the weekly practices of Gilas but has been only a spectator in his first two appearances. His third time would be the charm as he finally got to run the floor but he was more likely to stay with his fellow youngsters during breaks. Mac Belo and Russell Escoto, Pogoy’s teammates in FEU, and Kevin Ferrer, the man they beat in the UAAP finals, will usually find a vacant spot in the gym during down times in practice. “Nakaka excite kasi nakakasabay naman po ako kasi yung mga play na ginagamit ni coach Tab [Baldwin] ay parang yung mga play din ng cadets,” Pogoy said. Pogoy admits he still feels shy with the PBA players and he acknowledges his role as a humble reserve in the national team pool.

2016-03-29 22:29 Bong Lozada sports.inquirer.net

30 Man accused of hiding under truck, touching woman’s foot LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Lincoln police have ticketed a man suspected of hiding under a truck so he could touch one of a woman’s feet. The ticket cites the 20-year-old with disturbing the peace on March 21. Police say the woman reported seeing a man’s hand touch one of her feet as she loaded groceries into her truck in a Lincoln parking lot. Officer Kate Flood told the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/1PD4QJG ) that investigators who looked at security recordings linked the man to a similar incident in June at another Lincoln store. ___ Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com

2016-03-29 18:07 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

31 2 die in fire at home in Richmond County CORDOVA, N. C. (AP) - Two people have died when a fire burned their home in Richmond County. The Richmond County Daily Journal reported (http://bit.ly/1MygmLu) that 87- year-old T. L. Melton and 91-year-old Ruth Melton died in the fire early Monday. The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office said the home near the Cordova community was destroyed. Federal, state and local officials are investigating the cause of the fire. There is no immediate indication of foul play. Firefighters were called to the home shortly before 5 a.m. Monday. Cordova Deputy Fire Chief Jeremy Chance said firefighters entered a back bedroom to try to get to the victims but were forced back by the fire. Chance said it took about an hour to put out the flames. ___ Information from: Richmond County Daily Journal, http://yourdailyjournal.com

2016-03-29 18:08 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

32 NY developer buys landmark 90-year-old hotel in upstate city GLENS FALLS, N. Y. (AP) - A New York developer who owns popular shopping outlets near the Adirondacks has purchased a landmark 90-year-old hotel in a nearby upstate city. The Post-Standard of Glens Falls reports (bit.ly/22XtTAs) Ed Moore announced Monday that he has purchased The Queensbury Hotel, built in 1926 in downtown Glens Falls by a group of local business leaders. Moore bought the 125-room hotel from Queensbury Hotel LLC, a Connecticut- based investment group that had owned and operated the property since 2001. Moore’s plans for the Queensbury will be announced late Wednesday morning in the hotel lobby. Moore owns the French Mountain Commons and the Log Jam outlet shopping centers in the neighboring town of Queensbury, just south of Lake George. ___ Information from: The Post-Star, http://www.poststar.com

2016-03-29 18:07 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

33 Montrose Area teachers strike in northeastern Pennsylvania MONTROSE, Pa. (AP) - Teachers are striking at a school district in northeastern Pennsylvania. The teachers hit the picket lines Tuesday morning in the Montrose Area School District in Susquehanna County. That’s about 40 miles northwest of Scranton, not far from the New York border. The school district says the teachers are among the best-paid in the county, as well as the state. But the union says they thought they had reached a deal on a new contract when the district offered a “different” proposal. School district officials say the strike can only last nine days under state law that requires students receive a minimum number of days of instruction.

2016-03-29 18:03 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

34 Aquino signs into law Romualdez’s PWD bill More than a million disabled Filipinos will finally enjoy tax exemptions at par with the perks granted to senior citizens, maximizing the benefits that they deserve under the law. President Benigno Aquino III has signed into law a bill authored by Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez granting persons with disabilities (PWDs) exemption from the 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) on certain goods and services. The President signed Republic Act No. 10754 granting VAT exemption benefits to persons with disabilities last March 24, Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said he had been informed on Tuesday. “From the bottom of my heart, I thank the President for signing this very important measure into law. This is a compassionate measure aimed at helping the plight of the PWD sector,” Romualdez said in a statement on Tuesday. The bill was ratified in the House and Senate last December and transmitted to Malacañang on March 2. Fear of a veto PWD groups earlier expressed concern that the bill might suffer the same fate as the proposed P2,000 pension hike for Social Security System pensioners, which was vetoed by Mr. Aquino because of its financial implications. The Philippine Statistics Authority has estimated the PWD population in the country at 1.5 million. Like senior citizens, PWDs are eligible for a 20-percent discount on medical and dental services; purchase of medicines in all drugstores; public railway, skyway and bus fares; admission fees charged by theaters, cinema houses, concert halls, circuses, carnivals and other places of culture, leisure and amusement; and all services in hotels and similar lodging establishments, restaurants and recreation centers. But unlike senior citizens, PWDs had to pay the 12-percent VAT, which meant they were only enjoying less than half of the cash perks they were entitled to. ‘Equalizing measure’ Romualdez’s House Bill No. 1039 sought to change that by exempting PWDs from the VAT just like senior citizens, with an amendment to Republic Act No. 7277, also known as the Magna Carta for Persons with Disability, as amended by RA 9442, which gave the PWDs the 20- percent discount. “This is an equalizing measure because this will accord PWDs exactly the same privilege enjoyed by senior citizens, who are exempted from the VAT by virtue of Republic Act No. 9994,” Romualdez explained while campaigning among his congressional colleagues for the bill’s passage. He noted that senior citizens enjoyed a P20 discount for every P100 worth of certain goods and services, while PWDs effectively enjoyed only a P12 discount for every P100 worth of goods and services, “because the law did not exempt them from VAT, which is imposed on the net value of the good or service, or 10 percent of the P80 after deducting P20.” Aside from Romualdez, the other proponents of the bill are Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, and Senators Sonny Angara, Ralph Recto, Bam Aquino and Nancy Binay. Apart from the tax perk, the PWD law will also allow PWD relatives up to the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity taking care of the handicapped to claim a tax deduction of P25,000 in their annual income tax. “We are grateful for Congressman Martin Romualdez, who has tirelessly fought for this law, and Senators Sonny Angara and Ralph Recto and to the President for signing into law the PWD Bill, RA 10754,” said National Federation of PWD President Manuel Agcaoili.

2016-03-29 21:37 Gil Cabacungan newsinfo.inquirer.net

35 “Prison Break” star’s response to body-shaming meme goes viral “It could have been anything. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. But eating became the one thing I could look forward to”. These are just some of the strong words from American actor Wentworth Miller’s recent Facebook post regarding a fat-shaming meme by entertainment site “The LADbible” which compared his leaner physique to another photo of him showing a much fuller figure. Wentworth, best known by many as Michael Scofield from the critically acclaimed series Prison Break, shared that the photo was taken in 2010 during ”the lowest point of his adult life,” where he put on a few pounds as he was fighting depression and suicidal thoughts. “There were stretches when the highlight of my week was a favourite meal and a new episode of Top Chef,” wrote the British-born, Brooklyn-raised actor. “Sometimes that was enough. Had to be. And I put on weight. Big [expletive] deal.” Despite admitting to have been hurt by the meme, the Golden Globe nominee acknowledged that some good still came out of it. “Now, when I see that image of me in my red t-shirt, a rare smile on my face, I am reminded of my struggle. My endurance and my perseverance in the face of all kinds of demons. Some within. Some without,” he wrote. The 43-year-old actor and screen-writer even hinted forgiveness towards his detractors. “The first time I saw this meme pop up in my social media feed, I have to admit, it hurt to breathe. But as with everything in life, I get to assign meaning”. Wentworth continued, “And the meaning I assign to this,my image is Strength. Healing. Forgiveness. Of myself and others.” As of Tuesday evening, Wentworth’s post has reached some 304,000 likes and has been shared by 85,000 netizens. LAD Bible responds Meanwhile, The LAD Bible has since deleted the viral meme and instead issued an apology directed to the actor on Tuesday evening. The Facebook post, which directly tagged Miller, read: “We posted two pictures of you last night to our Facebook page, but today we want to say we’ve got this very, very wrong. Mental health is no joke or laughing matter. We certainly didn’t want to cause you pain by reminding you of such a low point in your life. Causing distress and upset to innocent or vulnerable people is simply not acceptable. TheLADbible continues to cover how prevalent mental health issues are among our audience, as well as the damaging stigma that surrounds such matters. We applaud your raw honesty and promise to now cover such matters in the responsible manner that our audience expects. Responding head-on to our post is something we applaud as it will help others through similar challenges in their lives. Once again, we got this very wrong, and we wanted to say sorry. TheLADbible team”.

2016-03-29 21:22 Khristian Ibarrola entertainment.inquirer.net

36 Video: Ohio Police Capture Escaped Inmate Now Playing: Easy Changes to Help Sell Your Home Now Playing: Tony Robbins Shares 7 Steps to Financial Freedom Now Playing: Jill Kelley Opens Up About Her Role in the Scandal That Ended David Petraeus' Public Career Now Playing: New Details on US Capitol Shooter Now Playing: Chaos in the Capitol: Shots Fired Now Playing: Grandson's Surprise of a Lifetime for Grandparents Now Playing: Ohio College on Lockdown as Search Continues for Escapee Now Playing: High Wind Threat From Washington, DC, to New York Now Playing: Eyewitness React to U. S. Capitol Shooting Now Playing: U. S. Capitol on Lockdown Now Playing: Eyewitness Says US Capitol Lockdown Was 'Pretty Sobering' Experience Now Playing: Demo Company Apologizes After Tearing Down Wrong House Now Playing: US Capitol on Lockdown After Shots Were Fired

2016-03-29 21:15 ABC News abcnews.go.com

37 Friends of activist concerned after SMS claims he was kidnapped Mthatha - Friends of activist Vusi Oldman Mahlangu are concerned after they received a SMS claiming that he had been kidnapped and was "in a dark place". Walter Sisulu University (WSU) Mthatha campus student Vuyo Mntonintshi said Mahlangu went missing on Tuesday morning. Mntonintshi said the last time he saw his friend was at 10:00 when he left his house to attend a meeting with outsourced workers. "He slept at my house and he left in the morning to address a meeting of workers and he never arrived," Mntonintshi told News24. "At about 16:30 he sent a message saying he has been kidnapped, he is in a dark place... and that is the last time we heard from him and we can't get hold of him. " Mntonintshi, who is also the former SRC treasurer of WSU, said a case had been opened with police. Police were not able to immediately confirm this. He said Mahlangu had been helping outsourced workers at the university and was mobilising people to help. Mahlangu was not a WSU student. However, Mntonintshi said he could not speculate if this was connected to his disappearance. "It might be early to say but it might also be the case... but circumstances... lead one to assume that maybe people behind issues of service providers could be involved. But I don't want to speculate," he said. Mahlangu's friends were currently meeting to discuss ways they could help police locate him. "We are very worried. We are now meeting with other comrades to see what we can do from our side," said Mntonintshi. 2016-03-29 21:15 www.news24.com

38 4 killed in wrong-way crash on Turnpike in Raleigh County BECKLEY, W. Va. (AP) - West Virginia State Police believe alcohol may have factored into a wrong-way crash in Raleigh County that killed four people, including two juveniles. Lt. Michael Baylous says the crash happened about 1:30 a.m. Monday on the West Virginia Turnpike south of Beckley. He says 35-year-old Cory Sheward, of Tiffin, Ohio, was driving a pickup truck south in the northbound lane and hit an SUV carrying eight people. Four people in the SUV died; four others and Sheward suffered injuries that don’t appear life-threatening. Police expect to charge Sheward with driving under the influence causing death and causing bodily injury. Baylous says the victims were relatives returning to Ohio from Disney World. They include 27- year-old Maxine Wade and 29-year-old Carlisa Crowell of Grove City, Ohio, and two girls ages 6 and 9. Baylous said no one in either vehicle was wearing seatbelts.

2016-03-29 21:01 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

39 Charges filed after man died while playing with a revolver HENLEY, Mo. (AP) - Prosecutors have filed charges after a man died while playing with a firearm in central Missouri. The Columbia Daily Tribune (http://bit.ly/1ojazOu ) reports that 21-year-old Lucas Abbett, of Henley, is charged with first-degree involuntary manslaughter in the death Thursday of 23-year-old Casey Pitman. No attorney is listed for him in online court records. He and a female suspect also are charged with tampering with physical evidence and making a false report. A third suspect is charged only with tampering with physical evidence. Authorities say the shooting happened while several people were inside Abbett’s trailer smoking methamphetamine and playing with a revolver. Court documents say Pitman shot himself after Abbett put a live round in the weapon. Abbett told authorities he assumed Pitman had watched him put the bullet in the gun. ___ Information from: Columbia Daily Tribune, http://www.columbiatribune.com

2016-03-29 18:04 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

40 Police seeking info on killing of man; body dumped on street PHOENIX (AP) - Authorities are seeking information about the activities of a man who was an apparent homicide victim and whose body was dumped on a street in north Phoenix. Police Sgt. Jonathan Howard says the body of 34-year-old Arthur Lee Hubbard was found Saturday night on the 100 block of East Foothills Drive. That’s near the south side of North Mountain Park. According to Howard, Hubbard had obvious signs of trauma when officers found his body on the road. Howard says police believed Hubbard died elsewhere and his body was discarded at the location where it was found.

2016-03-29 19:30 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

41 Minot city manager defends ethics of city employees MINOT, N. D. (AP) - Minot’s city manager is defending the ethics of city officials in the wake of criticism by the principal planner who quit after less than three weeks on the job. Carter Thompson resigned last week after being hired in early March. She criticized the city for what she said was the inequitable administration of city zoning codes and called the city a “dysfunctional, nightmare situation.” City Engineer Lance Meyer said earlier that his department adheres to the city zoning rules. City Manager Lee Staab on Monday said Thompson’s accusations were groundless. “I have not seen any evidence of any unethical behavior on behalf of any department,” he said. “These people are truly dedicated professionals, and I have never seen a harder-working group of people.” Thompson cited examples of what she said were businesses getting favorable treatment and said zoning ordinance enforcement was based on “who you are and who you know.” Staab disputed that, saying Thompson mischaracterized some examples and that “everything that’s done by the city staff goes before multiple checks and balances to include the planning commission, City Council.” Members of the citizen group #MakeMinot that is seeking a smaller and more accountable city government is calling for an independent probe. “I think it’s a good opportunity for a complete assessment,” spokesman Shaun Sipma said. “We’ve touted from the beginning that we want to improve our form of city government to make things more accountable, to improve trust.”

2016-03-29 19:30 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

42 Democrats say special session needed to address budget woes FARGO, N. D. (AP) - Democratic leaders in the North Dakota Legislature are asking Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple to call a special session to address the state’s budget woes. Senate Minority Leader Mac Schneider says he believes a “very brief, very focused” session would help lawmakers make a plan to weather the effects of money problems due primarily to low oil and crop prices. The Grand Forks Democrat says there was no strategy involved in Dalrymple’s across-the- board budget cuts. Schneider says some individuals and groups should be spared from the cuts. Democrats have scheduled news conferences Tuesday in Fargo and Bismarck to outline their plans. Jeff Zent, the governor’s policy adviser, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.

2016-03-29 20:57 North Dakota www.washingtontimes.com

43 Row over 'EU criminals in UK' claim EU exit campaigners have released a list of 50 foreign criminals they say have been allowed into the UK because of freedom of movement rules. Vote Leave says its list of the 50 "most dangerous" EU citizens includes 45 who "went on to commit serious offences in the UK, including murder and rape". In campaigners said the dossier was "scaremongering of the worst kind". The Home Office said the UK was "safer" by being inside the European Union. The two sides in the EU referendum debate have been trading blows over security issues, with debate intensifying following last week's Brussels attacks. BBC assistant political editor Norman Smith said the leave campaign was trying to make security its big issue. "In a way it is their own 'Project Fear'," he said, referencing the criticism levelled at the Remain campaign. "They are trying to raise concerns about our personal safety and they view it as the counterweight to the Remain side's use of the economic arguments. " The in-out vote on the UK's EU membership takes place on 23 June. Releasing the document on Tuesday, Vote Leave - one of the groups vying for an EU exit - said instead of refusing criminals entry into the UK, Britain had allowed EU judges to "hang out a welcome sign" The list includes Latvian Arnis Zalkalns who is suspected of killing London schoolgirl Alice Gross in 2014. The builder, who had been convicted of murdering his wife in Latvia in 1998, later killed himself. Under current rules, countries are entitled to consult previous police records but criminal convictions alone are not grounds for restricting the right to free movement. Vote Leave said EU law did not require other EU countries to inform the UK of the criminal records of their citizens. Chief executive Matthew Elliott said EU membership meant Britain had "lost control of our borders". "Free movement of people has created free movement of criminals making the UK less safe and less secure. We've allowed EU judges to hang out a welcome sign to individuals the public would rightly expect never to be allowed into the UK," he said. But Lucy Thomas, from pro-EU campaign group Britain Stronger In Europe, said: "This is scaremongering of the worst kind, particularly as Vote Leave accept that the alternatives to EU membership would include some free movement. " She added: "British security is stronger as part of the European Union, and leaving would put our security at risk. " Home Office Minister James Brokenshire said by being in the EU the UK was able to tackle cross-border crime, saying it had refused entry to almost 6,000 European Economic Area nationals since 2010. He said the European Arrest Warrant had enabled people fleeing crimes in the UK to be brought to justice and said a vote to leave the EU "would bring inevitable uncertainty" in the fight against criminals "on the lookout for weakness and vulnerability".

2016-03-29 18:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

44 Judith Nibbs 'decapitated by jealous partner' in Hoxton A jealous man beheaded the mother of his two children in an act of "pure hatred", the Old Bailey heard. Crane driver Dempsey Nibbs killed his partner of 30 years after he suspected her of having affairs, the court heard. Judith Nibbs, 60, described as "bubbly and happy", had predicted her own death, telling colleagues, "If I'm not in on Friday, I might be dead", jurors were told. Mr Nibbs, 69, of the Charles Estate in Hoxton, denies murder. The court heard that Mr Nibbs carried out the act because he thought his partner was a "snake", and said he had killed her while "defending himself". Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said the couple's relationship had soured in the spring of 2014 as Mr Nibbs suspected his partner of infidelity. Ms Nibbs had confided in her sister and a colleague at Meals on Wheels that her partner had threatened to kill her and grabbed her by the throat. During a row on 7 April, she had taunted Mr Nibbs with details of her infidelities, saying: "I have had sex eight times. " On the night of 10 April, Mr Nibbs attacked her in their Hoxton flat and knocked her out, Mr Aylett said. "Having attacked his wife, the defendant then took up a kitchen knife and cut off her head," he said. The court heard how Mr Nibbs disposed of remains down the lavatory, before writing a suicide note to his son and ringing police to tell them they would find "a couple of dead bodies" at his home. The trial heard that Mr Nibbs shown no signs of mental illness in the wake of the killing. Ms Nibbs's former workmates described her as a happy, joyful, bubbly and open-minded woman. The trial continues.

2016-03-29 18:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

45 45 Mattel fought elusive cyber-thieves to get $3M out of China WENZHOU, China (AP) - The email seemed unremarkable: a routine request by Mattel Inc.’s chief executive for a new vendor payment to China. It was well-timed, arriving on Thursday, April 30, during a tumultuous period for the Los-Angeles based maker of Barbie dolls. Barbie was bombing, particularly overseas, and the CEO, Christopher Sinclair, had officially taken over only that month. Mattel had fired his predecessor. The finance executive who got the note was naturally eager to please her new boss. She double- checked protocol. Fund transfers required approval from two high-ranking managers. She qualified and so did the CEO, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter. He declined to reveal the finance executive’s name. Satisfied, the executive wired over $3 million to the Bank of Wenzhou, in China. Hours later, she mentioned the payment to Sinclair. But he hadn’t made any such request. Frantic, Mattel executives called their U. S. bank, the police and the FBI. The response? You’re out of luck. The money’s already in China. Mattel’s millions were swept up in a tide of dirty money that passes through China and that Western police are only beginning to understand. The scam the company fell victim to - known as the fake CEO or fake president scam - has cost companies, many of them American, more than $1.8 billion, according to the FBI. Most of the stolen money passes through banks in China or Hong Kong, the FBI said. An Associated Press investigation this week showed that China is emerging as a global hub for money laundering. The dark money that courses through China has long been considered a domestic issue, with Chinese illicitly moving money for other Chinese. That’s no longer the case. Mounting evidence indicates that China is becoming a global banker for the criminal economy, according to interviews with police officials, court records in the U. S. and Europe, and intelligence documents reviewed by the AP. Years of mutual mistrust have hindered law enforcement cooperation between China and the West, adding to China’s appeal as a money laundering hub. The U. S. State Department said in a report this month that China has “not cooperated sufficiently on financial investigations.” China’s inability to enforce U. S. court orders on China-based assets “remains a significant barrier to enhanced U. S.-China cooperation,” it added. In a regular briefing with reporters on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that the government “places great emphasis” on fighting crimes such as money laundering and is working to expand international cooperation. “China is not, has not been, nor will be in the future a center of global money laundering,” he said. Mattel wasn’t going to let go of $3 million without a fight. What the company really needed was luck. And when it came to Mattel’s China operations, luck had been in short supply. Mattel’s misadventures in China are so spectacular they’ve become the stuff of business school seminars. In 2007, Mattel recalled 19 million made-in-China toys, including Pixar cars covered in lead paint and Barbie sets embedded with tiny, hazardous magnets. Then, in 2009, Mattel opened the “House of Barbie,” a glowing pink, six-story shrine on one of Shanghai’s ritziest shopping boulevards. It had a spiral staircase encased with over 800 Barbie dolls, a spa and a fashion runway. But the flagship flopped, and Mattel closed it after just two years. Rising costs and labor shortages weighed on China production, even as the $5.7 billion toy giant limped back into the Chinese market with dolls - including a Violin Soloist Barbie - aimed at Chinese “tiger moms.” Story Continues →

2016-03-29 20:53 In this www.washingtontimes.com

46 WHO urges more oversight in wake of China vaccine scandal BEIJING (AP) - China must exert stronger oversight over vaccines sold on the private market in the wake of a developing scandal involving expired or improperly stored vaccines, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Dr. Lance Rodewald of WHO China’s immunization program told reporters that the ongoing investigation into the “troubling” scandal that came to light last month would help identify ways to tighten regulation of the private market in vaccines. “What we’re seeing here is problems on the private sector distribution side,” Rodewald said. “The vaccines that are in the private sector need to be managed, stored, handled, distributed and used in accordance with recognized standards.” Chinese police say a woman and her daughter, who are now in detention, are thought to have sold nearly $100 million worth of the suspect products nationwide since 2011. More than 130 people have been questioned and 69 criminal cases filed in connection with the pair. A total of 29 pharmaceutical companies are suspected of selling the faulty vaccines and 16 institutions of buying them. The scandal reinforces long-standing public concerns over the safety of China’s food and medicine supply fed by scandals involving phony infant formula, snacks tainted with chemicals and phony or defective medications, including vaccines. Rodewald said that the WHO has full confidence that vaccines in China “start their life safe, pure, potent and effective.” He said that confidence applies both to the free and mandatory vaccines provided by the government for all children, as well as the voluntary vaccines available on the private market. Investigators say the latest scandal involves the voluntary, or secondary, vaccines, including those given to children to protect against maladies such as pneumococcal disease and rotavirus gastroenteritis. Overseen by China’s Cabinet, a joint task force from the China Food and Drug Administration, the health ministry and national police force is investigating how the faulty vaccines entered the distribution network, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Monday.

2016-03-29 20:53 In this www.washingtontimes.com

47 Glastonbury: ZZ Top and New Order join festival line-up ZZ Top and New Order are among a raft of acts confirmed to perform at this year's Glastonbury Festival. Other names on the bill include Beck, Disclosure, Ellie Goulding, Foals, LCD Soundsystem, PJ Harvey, Madness and Stormzy. This year's three headliners - already announced - are Muse, Adele and Coldplay. The festival takes place at Worthy Farm at Pilton in Somerset from 22 to 26 June. The 2016 line-up also features The 1975, The Last Shadow Puppets, Grimes, Jake Bugg, Fatboy Slim, Guy Garvey, Madness, Wolf Alice, Bat For Lashes, Cyndi Lauper, Ronnie Spector and Earth, Wind & Fire. Jeff Lynne's ELO occupies the Sunday afternoon "legends" lot, which in recent years has been filled by Dolly Parton, Lionel Richie and Kenny Rogers. The Syrian National Orchestra, whose members have fled around the world due to the conflict in the country, is also set to perform. The orchestra is already performing a concert with Blur and Gorillaz singer Damon Albarn at London's Royal Festival Hall on Saturday 25 June.

2016-03-29 22:22 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

48 Life in Rotherham after child abuse revelations When revelations of large-scale child abuse in Rotherham were reported in 2014, the perception of the town changed for many. What has it been like for those living locally? "We've had lots of violence, lots of racially motivated attacks. I am very concerned about my children," Nasrat Haider explains outside her home in Rotherham. She has five children and stepchildren, aged between seven months and 13 years old. In 2014, a report found at least 1,400 children had been subjected to appalling sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013 - mainly by men of Pakistani heritage. Ms Haider believes the town's Asian community has been damaged by the revelations. "We're all seen as groomers, we're all seen as paedophiles," she says. "I want [my children] to walk in the streets feeling secure, feeling proud of their heritage and being part of the Rotherham community. "I want them to be integrated in society - but at this time it's very hit and miss. " Ms Haider has lived in the South Yorkshire town since the age of five. She was once proud to live there, but not anymore. Recently, she has felt it necessary to broach the subject of child abuse with her older children, so they are aware of the issue and less likely to become victims themselves. But it was a difficult decision. "It's a conversation you would have with a 15- or 16-year-old, not a 10- or 11-year-old," she says. "It's almost as if you're taking away their innocence. " The Victoria Derbyshire programme is broadcast on weekdays between 09:00 and 11:00 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel. Jessie Long, a 20-year-old dance teacher in Rotherham, has also felt the need to adapt her behaviour as a precaution. "With kids coming here [to dance], I stand at the door and watch them and make sure they are with their parents when they leave. "I would never let them go off alone and just assume that they'd got home all right. "When I was at school, we'd go to the park and hang about until 21:00 or 22:00, whereas now I say to the children 'don't go anywhere when it's dark - don't do this, don't do that'. " She has found it difficult to trust people since the abuse came to light. "You don't know who [the attackers] are, you don't know what they're like," she says. "They're quite obviously still out there living a normal life. "There are things that I do massively different. "When I go out on a night out with friends, there's no way we'd get a taxi home - especially not on our own. " The 2014 report that first highlighted the scale of the abuse also found taxi drivers had played a prominent role in moving around children who were abused in the town. It has left cab drivers such as Khadim Hussain losing trade and feeling answerable to the actions of others. "You don't know what customers think of you in the back of your mind," he says. "They'll always question you, want to know your opinion. It has affected me a lot. " Mr Hussain worries that people are nervous - or even scared - of getting in his car, despite him having been in the profession for 25 years. "We're just trying to make a living at the end of the day, like any person," he says. More than a year-and-a-half after the report first came to light, he is still receiving abuse. "A customer at the weekend began swearing and shouting racial abuse," he says. "I should have actually called the police. " Others, however, believe the town is slowly progressing from its original period of grief and anger. Gift-shop owner Charlotte Scothern thinks the community has reached the stage of acceptance, focusing now on "making sure everyone has justice, making sure it never happens again". "It is a journey, and I think the town's been through it together," she says. "Now, especially, with there being more support in place, we are now in a place where people understand the issue more. " Ms Scothern's business has been affected by protests, organised by groups such as Britain First. She says street closures caused by the demonstrations are leading some small businesses into financial difficulty. The lost Saturday trade, she says, "can be the difference between staying afloat and going under". But she maintains she would not want to live anywhere else. "You will not go somewhere else and find a friendlier town," she says. "And I think that's the thing we've got to hold on to. "You don't let them few people who have damaged us, define us. "

2016-03-29 22:22 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

49 “If this is battery then I should have been arrested many times”: Trump’s Twitter supporters run to Corey Lewandowski’s defense after he’s charged Topics: Donald Trump , Corey Lewandowski , simple battery , Jupiter Florida , #IStandWithCorey , Elections 2016 , Twitter , Elections News , Social News , Media News , News , Politics News Donald Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was charged Tuesday with the March 8 battery of former-Breitbart reporter, Michelle Fields, at Trump National Golf Club’s Jupiter location. Lewandowski turned himself into police in Jupiter, Florida in Tuesday morning and has been issued a notice to appear in court. Prior to his arrest, Lewandowski denied any wrongdoing, bolstering his claim with inconclusive video evidence. Tuesday, however, the police department released surveillance video of the incident, clearly showing that Lewandowski “yanked” Fields’ arm. Under Section 784.03 of Florida’s Statutes , Lewandowski’s actions constitute simple battery, punishable of up to one year in prison or — more likely in this case — a $1,000 fine (pocket change for Trump, who’s offered to cover legal fees for far costlier offenses). Though Fields arguably hyperbolized a bit in her account (Lewandowski “grabbed me tightly by the arm and yanked me down”), the surveillance video more or less proves her right and definitively shows professional misconduct on Lewandowski’s part. Tactical thuggishness is a major pillar of Trump’s campaign strategy and has successfully drawn millions of hooligans out of their trailers and into the civic arena. In other words, this incident likely won’t have any impact on Trump’s popularity; the people who hate him will still hate him, and the majority of Republicans who support him will continue to do so.

2016-03-29 22:22 Brendan Gauthier salon.com.feedsportal.com

50 Pushing people around is what Trump’s all about: The gangster candidate won’t fire Lewandowski over his assault arrest because they want to make their own rules Topics: Corey Lewandowski , Donald Trump , Republican Primary , lewandowski arrest , Michelle Fields , trump violence , Elections 2016 , Elections News , Media News , News , Politics News Now for this week’s demonstration of how far the Donald Trump campaign will drag American politics into the gutter: Corey Lewandowski , Trump’s campaign manager, has been officially charged with misdemeanor battery against Michelle Fields. Multiple witnesses, audio and now video footage show that Lewandowski grabbed Fields, a reporter for Breitbart, and pulled her so hard she alleges that it caused bruises on her arm. Even though there’s no precedent for a campaign manager getting arrested for assault during a campaign, at least on a national level, it’s safe to say that other campaigns wouldn’t have even waited for the arrest warrant before asking for a resignation. But the Trump campaign is not like most campaigns. Instead, it appears they are standing by their man until the bitter end. Fun fact: Lewandowski’s lawyer, Kendall Coffey, used to be a U. S. attorney in Florida, but was forced to resign his position in 1996 after a stripper at a Miama night club accused him of biting her on the arm so hard it broke skin. Trump himself did not wait long before rushing to support his man: And then immediately switching to some garbled conspiracy theory, seemingly after it was pointed out to him that there are tapes showing pretty clearly that something did happen: It’s just another day in the life of the gangster candidate , where your people are less like campaign staffers and more like the muscle. Lewandowski, in particular, relishes the role of the heavy, wandering the floor in a menacing fashion at campaign rallies and allegedly pushing other advisors out so that he is the only guy with Trump’s ear. Like his boss , Lewandowski is a big fan of using likely empty threats of lawsuits to cower anyone who might criticize him. But Trump’s loyalty to Lewandowski is not just because they are peas in a pod. We can expect the Trump campaign to stand by their man because throwing Lewandowski under the bus would be a direct rejection of everything the campaign stands for, both implicitly and explicitly. Firing people for allegedly assaulting women is exactly the kind of namby-pamby kow-towing to “political correctness” that Trump promises his campaign will eradicate. They can’t back down now, just because there’s video footage that makes Lewandowski’s denials excessively hard to swallow. This whole incident strikes right at the heart of what the Trump campaign is all about. The sneering at “political correctness” and the posturing about making America “great” again really boils down to one thing: Creating a society where white conservative men can treat everyone else like garbage and no one can do anything about it. Trump doesn’t really take great pains to hide that his narrative is a promise to return to some halcyon days where white male conservatives enforced their will on everyone else, with violence if necessary, and there wasn’t much anyone else could do about it.

2016-03-29 22:22 Amanda Marcotte salon.com.feedsportal.com

51 Trump campaign: Corey Lewandowski is “confident that he will be exonerated” Topics: Elections 2016 , Donald Trump , Corey Lewandowski , Michelle Fields , Elections News , Social News , Media News , News , Politics News Donald Trump has made an official statement regarding the Tuesday arrest of his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, for simple battery in connection with the mishandling of former-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields: The “tapes” in question include a recently released CCTV surveillance video that definitively shows Lewandowski grabbing Fields’ arm and pulling her away from Trump — something Lewandowski had previously wholly denied doing. In an effort to deflect attention from his campaign manager, Trump then attempted to reframe the narrative as Fields inflating her charges:

2016-03-29 19:44 Brendan Gauthier salon.com.feedsportal.com

52 Donald Trump slouches towards Bethlehem: We’re witnessing the birth of new American politics Topics: TomDispatch.com , Donald Trump , Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini , Elections News , Politics News The other week, feeling sick, I spent a day on my couch with the TV on and was reminded of an odd fact of American life. More than seven months before Election Day, you can watch the 2016 campaign for the presidency at any moment of your choosing, and that’s been true since at least late last year. There is essentially never a time when some network or news channel isn’t reporting on, discussing, debating, analyzing, speculating about, or simply drooling over some aspect of the primary campaign, of Hillary, Bernie, Ted, and above all — a million times above all — The Donald (from the violence at his rallies to the size of his hands ). In case you’re young and think this is more or less the American norm, it isn’t. Or wasn’t. Truly, there is something new under the sun. Of course, in 1994 with O. J. Simpson’s white Ford Bronco chase ( 95 million viewers!), the 24/7 media event arrived full blown in American life and something changed when it came to the way we focused on our world and the media focused on us. But you can be sure of one thing: never in the history of television, or any other form of media, has a single figure garnered the amount of attention — hour after hour, day after day, week after week — as Donald Trump. If he’s the O. J. Simpson of twenty-first-century American politics and his run for the presidency is the eternal white Ford Bronco chase of our moment, then we’re in a truly strange world. Or let me put it another way: this is not an election. I know the word “election” is being used every five seconds and somewhere along the line significant numbers of Americans (particularly, this season, Republicans ) continue to enter voting booths or in the case of primary caucuses, school gyms and the like, to choose among various candidates, so it’s all still election-like. But take my word for it as a 71-year-old guy who’s been watching our politics for decades: this is not an election of the kind the textbooks once taught us was so crucial to American democracy. If, however, you’re sitting there waiting for me to tell you what it is, take a breath and don’t be too disappointed. I have no idea, though it’s certainly part bread-and-circuses spectacle, part celebrity obsession, and part media money machine. Actually, before we go further, let me hedge my bets on the idea that Donald Trump is a twenty- first-century O. J. Simpson. It’s certainly a reasonable enough comparison, but I’ve begun to wonder about the usefulness of just about any comparison in our present situation. Even the most nightmarish of them — Donald Trump is Adolf Hitler , Benito Mussolini , or any past extreme demagogue of your choice — may actually prove to be covert gestures of consolation, reassurance, and comfort. Yes, what’s happening in our world is increasingly extreme and could hardly be weirder, we seem to have the urge to say, but it’s still recognizable. It’s something we’ve encountered before, something we’ve made sense of in the past and, in the process, overcome. Round Up the Usual Suspects But what if that’s not true? In some ways, the most frightening, least acceptable thing to say about our American world right now — even if Donald Trump’s overwhelming presence all but begs us to say it — is that we’ve entered uncharted territory and, under the circumstances, comparisons might actually impair our ability to come to grips with our new reality. My own suspicion: Donald Trump is only the most obvious instance of this, the example no one can miss. In these first years of the twenty-first century, we may be witnessing a new world being born inside the hollowed-out shell of the American system. As yet, though we live with this reality every day, we evidently just can’t bear to recognize it for what it might be. When we survey the landscape, what we tend to focus on is that shell — the usual elections (in somewhat heightened form), the usual governmental bodies (a little tarnished) with the usual governmental powers (a little diminished or redistributed), including the usual checks and balances (a little out of whack), and the same old Constitution (much praised in its absence), and yes, we know that none of this is working particularly well, or sometimes at all, but it still feels comfortable to view what we have as a reduced, shabbier, and more dysfunctional version of the known. Perhaps, however, it’s increasingly a version of the unknown. We say, for instance, that Congress is “paralyzed,” and that little can be done in a country where politics has become so “polarized,” and we wait for something to shake us loose from that “paralysis,” to return us to a Washington closer to what we remember and recognize. But maybe this is it. Maybe even if the Republicans somehow lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, we would still be in a situation something like what we’re now labeling paralysis. Maybe in our new American reality, Congress is actually some kind of glorified, well-lobbied, and well-financed version of a peanut gallery. Of course, I don’t want to deny that much of what is “new” in our world has a long history. The present yawning inequality gap between the 1% and ordinary Americans first began to widen in the 1970s and — as Thomas Frank explains so brilliantly in his new book, Listen, Liberal — was already a powerful and much-discussed reality in the early 1990s, when Bill Clinton ran for president. Yes, that gap is now more like an abyss and looks ever more permanently embedded in the American system, but it has a genuine history, as for instance do 1% elections and the rise and self-organization of the “ billionaire class ,” even if no one, until this second, imagined that government of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires might devolve into government of the billionaire, by the billionaire, and for the billionaire — that is, just one of them. Indeed, much of our shape-shifting world can be written about as a set of comparisons and in terms of historical reference points. Inequality has a history. The military-industrial complex and the all-volunteer military , like the warrior corporation , weren’t born yesterday; neither was our state of perpetual war , nor the national security state that now looms over Washington, nor its surveilling urge , the desire to know far too much about the private lives of Americans. (A little bow of remembrance to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover is in order here.) And yet, true as all that may be, Washington increasingly seems like a new land, sporting something like a new system in the midst of our much-described polarized and paralyzed politics. The national security state doesn’t seem faintly paralyzed or polarized to me. Nor does the Pentagon. On certain days when I catch the news, I can’t believe how strange and yet humdrum this uncharted new territory is. Remind me, for instance, where in the Constitution the Founding Fathers wrote about that national security state? And yet there it is in all its glory, all its powers, an ever more independent force in our nation’s capital. In what way, for instance, did those men of the revolutionary era prepare the ground for the Pentagon to loose its spy drones from our distant war zones over the United States? And yet, so it has. And no one even seems disturbed by the development. The news, barely noticed or noted, was instantly absorbed into what’s becoming the new normal. Graduation Ceremonies in the Imperium Let me mention here the almost random piece of news that recently made me wonder just what planet I was actually on. And I know you won’t believe it, but it had absolutely nothing to do with Donald Trump.

2016-03-29 12:50 Tom Engelhardt salon.com.feedsportal.com

53 Half of all Americans support Ted Cruz’s plan to patrol Muslim neighborhoods Topics: Ted Cruz , Muslims , poll , anti-immigrant , anti-muslim bigotry , fearmongering , Terrorism , 2016 Republican primary , Elections News , News , Politics News Two new polls released this week show that upwards of half of all Americans agree with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz’s response to last week’s terror attack in Belgium with a plan for police to “patrol” Muslim neighborhoods in America. A new Morning Consult poll notes that 49 percent of American voters asked in the days after the Brussels terror attack said they agreed with Cruz’s call to “empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.” “Have the terrorists won?” the press release announcing the poll’s findings asked, explaining that “A majority of Americans voters appear to be willing to do whatever it takes, even backing what amounts to a revocation of essential American liberties and ideals, in an effort to keep us safe.” Another poll out this week confirms that more Americans are in line with the Texas Tea Party senator’s direction of handling potential terror threats within U. S. borders than are with New York Police Department Commissioner Bill Bratton, who blasted Cruz’s “lack of knowledge” and called on him to “shut up,” arguing that profiling and mass surveillance hurts counterterrorism efforts.

2016-03-29 22:22 Sophia Tesfaye salon.com.feedsportal.com

54 David Brooks finally gets it: He nails the roots of Trump’s toxic sexism — but avoids addressing its consequences Topics: David Brooks , Donald Trump , 2016 Elections , Media Criticism , Republicans , Sex , Elections News , Media News , Entertainment News People on the left love to hate David Brooks. They say he’s pompous, pseudo-intellectual, glib, and evasive. Wonkette, for instance, has led a constant stream of attacks on him, with a recent column titled “Please Enjoy The Slow But Steady Unraveling Of David Brooks.” Here at Salon, writers go after Brooks regularly, with great gusto, and will continue to. It’s certainly true that Brooks simplifies complex issues, avoids talking about race unless he’s forced to, and has worshipped not just Ronald Reagan, but George W. Bush as well. He’s also often late on breaking the news on important issues. He engages in pop sociology that doesn’t always stand up. But today’s column shows that sometimes, he’s actually a valuable part of the conversation. His column today is about sex and gender, and the way a nasty kind of hatred generates support for Donald Trump. Brooks is hardly the first to point out that Trump appeals to a toxic streak of masculinity, and that he degrades women: This has been clear for a while now and Trump is hardly difficult to interpret. But Brooks gets at the root of the matter – looking at the evolution of traditional moralistic sexism and what he calls “midcentury sexism” – and boils it down succinctly as being about ego competition in a world from which any whiff of chivalry has evaporated. As Brooks writes: Liberals and people on the left have been writing things like this for months now. But do we really want to beat up on Brooks for being late to the party? Think of Brooks like your smart, sometimes eloquent, but often behind-the-times uncle or father or grandfather. If they eventually come around to a moderate or enlightened position, do you really want to jeer them? Charles Blow or Paul Krugman are more likely to teach me something I don’t know, but don’t we want conservatives to face up to brutal sexism? Would we rather have Bill O’Reilly on that page?

2016-03-29 22:22 Scott Timberg salon.com.feedsportal.com

55 Pacifism in an age of terror: Author of fascinating new book explores the relationship between violence and freedom Topics: global war on terror , isis , Dustin Howes , Mahatma Gandhi , Pacifism , nonviolence , Elections News , News , Politics News The recent attacks in Brussels have once again raised a difficult question: How do we combat terrorism? It’s a complicated problem, and there are no easy answers, but almost everyone agrees that violence is necessary. Even the most dovish liberal generally concedes that force in defense of freedom is an unfortunate – but inescapable – reality. This is especially true when confronted by groups like ISIS or al-Qaeda. Dustin Howes is the David J. Kriskovich Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University. A political theorist, Howes studies the origins and utility of nonviolence. Much of his work is devoted to developing a theory of pragmatic pacifism, one free of religious and moral justifications. His new book, “ Freedom Without Violence ,” explores the history of violent and nonviolent attempts to gain political freedom and challenges the notion that violence is an indispensable tool. Recently, Salon corresponded with Howes about the book. We asked him why he thinks a conversation about the relationship between violence and freedom is needed. Our conversation is below and has been edited for clarity and length. In your new book, “Freedom Without Violence,” you challenge the conventional view that violence is necessary to defend and exercise political freedom. What’s your argument, and how is it unique? Well, there are a number of ways freedom is thought to require violence in conventional wisdom, in the histories we tell ourselves, and in the work of some of the most influential thinkers across the ideological spectrum. The impetus for writing the book was a conversation I had with a friend back in 2006. The justifications for the war in Iraq had evolved over time but one thing that remained consistent among the Bush administration rhetoric was the idea that we were fighting for freedom – either defending our freedom, which was supposedly threatened by weapons of mass destruction, or fighting for the freedom of Iraq, which we had “liberated” by overthrowing Saddam Hussein. My friend and I both opposed the war but he thought the freedom rhetoric was just window dressing. Nevertheless, it seemed to be very effective as an argument for the war and I had not heard opponents of the war adequately counter it. This got me wondering about the origins of the idea that violence and warfare are necessary for freedom and had me thinking that perhaps there was something wrong with how we use the word freedom, if it could justify this war. The book is basically what I found in my investigations, along with an attempt to recover the lost, or at least deemphasized, connection between nonviolence and freedom. I found that freedom is usually thought to require violence for one of three reasons. The first reason is liberation from oppressive governments. The signature revolutions of the last few centuries are said to be founding moments in the history of freedom, although which ones – if any – count as being “truly” about freedom depends on one’s political perspective (I focus on the American, French, Haitian, and Bolshevik revolutions). The second reason violence is said to be necessary for freedom is to conserve or defend freedom once it is established. The history of this idea is complex, but in the seventeen century, when the very concept of the sovereignty of the modern liberal state was being formed, the violence of the police and the military were legitimated in the name of freedom. Finally, the oldest and perhaps most pernicious connection between freedom and violence is the idea that the free should rule over slaves and barbarians. This idea probably originated in ancient Athens but we see it expressed most dramatically in modern times in the form of the nationalist and socialist ideas that eventually became totalitarian. Although these ideas are formidable, the counter-tradition I resuscitate offers some powerful rejoinders. On the issue of liberation, the abolitionist movement and the women’s movement that grew out of it have accomplished more for freedom than all of the violent revolutions combined, if we consider raw numbers of people or the portion of humanity effected. The worldwide abolition of slavery was achieved almost entirely with nonviolent means (our Civil War being an exception to the rule) and the great strides in women’s rights have been made without a single violent revolution. Moreover, nonviolent revolutions, from the Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe, to the overthrow of dictators in the Philippines, Chile, South Africa, and Egypt, to name a few, demonstrate that civil resistance can topple even the most brutal authoritarian regimes. Nonviolence has also been used to preserve and defend freedom. The oldest and still perhaps most astonishing examples of this come from the Roman republic, where the plebs refused to fight wars and even vacated the city en masse to preserve their freedom in the face of encroachments by the patricians. But in relation to the modern liberal state, ideas like civilian defense and restorative justice as alternatives to military defense and the prison industrial complex hold promise. Finally, I try to develop a concept of nonviolent rule that challenges the idea that those who rule themselves are somehow fit to rule over others. In your last book, “Toward a Credible Pacifism,” you talk about pacifism not in moral terms but rather as a distinct form of politics – what do you mean by that? For good reason, the people we most readily associate with pacifism and nonviolence, like Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi tend to emphasize the moral superiority of nonviolence compared to violence. Claiming the moral high ground is good political strategy. Judith Butler wrote of nonviolence that it is “a carefully crafted ‘fuck you.’” I would not frame it quite so cynically. But I would say that emphasizing the moral dimensions of nonviolence tends to obscure the ways in which the methods of King and Gandhi tell us something about how politics works. There’s a lot of confusion surrounding the terms nonviolence, civil disobedience, and pacifism – they seem to overlap in many ways. What are the differences? And why are those differences significant in your view? There is a long history at work with all three terms and let me add another, which seems to be the favorite of the Peace Studies community at the moment: civil resistance. Many advocates of nonviolence outright reject the term pacifism because it too often connotes passive submission to oppression. I have called this “perverse pacifism” because it originated in an interpretation of Christianity that tried to square the Roman Empire with the message of Christ after the conversion of Constantine. However, I think each term is useful and would distinguish them is this way. Pacifism is the ideological position, based on a range of ideas about politics, ethics, and the social, which holds that physical violence is never necessary. Nonviolence refers to the extraordinarily wide range of methods that people have developed that eschew or replace physical violence. Gene Sharp famously catalogued 198 such methods, from strikes to boycotts, and demonstrations to setting up alternative governments. Civil disobedience is when an act of nonviolence involves knowingly breaking the law and willfully submitting to the consequences even while declaring the punishment to be unjust. Civil resistance refers to any constellation of nonviolent methods that aim to overthrow a particular regime or achieve a particular political goal. Most people think of nonviolence as a domestic political tool (i.e. a Civil Rights struggle), not as something with broad applications in international politics. Is that a mistake? Regardless of what one thinks of the Arab Spring or the Velvet Revolutions they undoubtedly transcend domestic politics in both the way they spread and their implications. Gandhi led the movement that eventually pulled away the cornerstone of the British Empire. One of the organizations I admire most, Combatants for Peace brings together former Israeli and Palestinian fighters who are now committed to nonviolence. The late Jonathan Schell referred to the growing awareness of nonviolence among the people of the world as a “new superpower” that made the world “unconquerable.” There’s a well-known Mao quote: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” I imagine many of our readers will tacitly agree with this statement – do you? No. And I can use Mao’s ascendance to prove it. Mao came to power through what is perhaps the greatest strategic retreat in the history of warfare. The Long March involved trying to avoid direct engagement with the Nationalists while cultivating support among the rural areas the Communists traversed. Mao laid down strict rules for his soldiers regarding the treatment of the civilian population. The more the Nationalists used their guns, the more their power receded from them. If power grew from the barrel of a gun, the much better equipped Nationalists would have defeated Mao. It is important to note that this example is not an exception. Those who study military power have shown with extensive empirical studies the surprising result that better armed sides are not more likely to win wars. Think of the United States’ experience in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Power grows from the coming together of people for a common purpose. Using guns is one way to exercise power but it is not power itself and sometimes drains one’s power. People intuitively assume that violence is the most reliable – and effective – political instrument. When conversation fails, and we’re left with incompatible goals, it appears violence has the final say. Is that something you dispute in your book? Yes. While they may disapprove of violence morally, many people believe it is necessary as a “last resort” because of its perceived effectiveness. We know that violence does do certain things with 100 percent effectiveness. There are many forms of physical violence, but let’s just take killing as an example. We know that killing someone prevents them from speaking and acting in the future. If we disagree with what someone or some group says or does, killing them would appear to be a failsafe way of having one’s political preferences prevail. This is what I call the “veneer of reliability.” Why just a veneer? Because the certainty that some people will never again speak or act does not tell us what everyone else will say or do. When people are killed, others may respond with fear and be dissuaded from similar actions – or they might respond in the exact opposite fashion and, out of love and loyalty for the slain, be inspired to be like them. To put it more simply: Dead bodies don’t make policy, but they are almost invariably politicized by those who remain. How this plays out depends not only on how perpetrators interpret their violence but how survivors and witnesses respond and even how those who are killed confront death.

2016-03-29 22:22 Sean Illing salon.com.feedsportal.com

56 Asad Shah death: Man in court charged with murder A man has appeared in court charged with the murder of a shopkeeper in the south side of Glasgow. Tanveer Ahmed, 32, from Bradford in Yorkshire, is accused of killing 40-year-old Asad Shah outside his shop in the city's Shawlands area on Thursday. Police Scotland had previously described the incident as a religiously prejudiced attack and said both men were Muslims. At Glasgow Sheriff Court, Mr Ahmed made no plea and was remanded in custody. Mr Shah was found with serious injuries outside his shop, Shah's Newsagents and Convenience Store, in Minard Road, on 24 March. The incident happened just hours after he had posted an Easter message on Facebook to his customers. This message said: "Good Friday and a very happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nationx" Mr Shah was rushed to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. On Friday night a silent vigil was held outside his shop attended by hundreds of people including First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. Hundreds of floral tributes have also been left at the scene. A fundraising page on GoFundMe, set up to help Mr Shah's family, had raised more than £94,000 by 16:00 on Tuesday.

2016-03-29 19:30 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

57 Florida’s hideous new anti-Planned Parenthood law would send women to school nurses for healthcare instead Topics: Florida , Rick Scott , Planned Parenthood , Abortion , Reproductive Rights , News , Politics News For some time now, we’ve been following a long series of red-state reproductive Jim Crow laws incrementally making it more and more difficult for women to retain sovereignty over what happens inside their bodies. Each new law seems to get creepier than the last, especially a recent law signed by Indiana Governor Mike Pence that not only forces women to undergo unnecessary medical procedures but also effectively bans all abortions after 20-weeks, even in the event of pregnancy-related threats to the lives of women — and criminalizes doctors who perform abortions knowing the fetus is suffering from a severe physical deformity or disease. Of course many of the laws being proposed and passed are direct reactions to the series of deceptively edited YouTube videos alleging that Planned Parenthood has been somehow illegally harvesting and selling fetus body parts. As many of us are aware, countless nonpartisan fact-checkers have debunked the claims made in the videos; around a dozen state investigations have cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing; and the scam-artists responsible for the videos have been indicted in Arizona. One of the state-level investigations to have exonerated Planned Parenthood took place in Florida at the request of Governor Rick Scott. As vigorously as Scott tried to frame the healthcare clinics, the investigation turned up exactly zero illegal activities. In other words, the Florida investigation, ordered and conducted by an anti-choice administration, concluded that Planned Parenthood hasn’t been doing anything that the anti-choice administration claimed that it had been. That means, no, Planned Parenthood isn’t selling fetus parts in Florida. Nevertheless, Rick Scott is poised to sign a new anti-choice bill into law which defunds Planned Parenthoood anyway, in addition to any and all clinics that provide abortion services. Just because. The new legislation would block Medicaid from covering non-abortion medical services provided by clinics, including Planned Parenthood, that also happen to perform abortions. In other words, Medicaid recipients who require pre- and post-natal healthcare, HIV or cancer related services, as well as all varieties of preventative care, will be out of luck if their medical facility also performs abortions — even knowing that abortions are performed by different doctors than those covering non-abortion services. So, yes, Florida Republicans are punishing Medicaid recipients, including victims of unrelated diseases, by stripping them of their Medicaid coverage if their doctors happen to be employed by clinics that also perform abortions. The law, by the way, provides an exception for cases of rape, incest or threats to the lives of pregnant women. Worse, the law would requires doctors at these clinics to enjoy admitting privileges at a local hospital. If those privileges aren’t granted, offices providing abortion services would be forced to shut down.

2016-03-29 19:23 Bob Cesca salon.com.feedsportal.com

58 Police: Woman involved in 2-car Springfield crash dies SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A woman seriously hurt in a two-car crash in Springfield last weekend has died. The woman was at the intersection of Catherine and McKnight Streets on Sunday when another vehicle hit the side of her car. The woman was extricated from her car and taken to the hospital. Officials say she was having a heart attack when paramedics arrived. A passenger in the woman’s car and the driver of the other car were also hospitalized. They are expected to survive. Authorities confirmed the woman’s death Monday. Her identity hasn’t been released. The medical examiner will determine her cause of death.

2016-03-29 18:08 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

59 Can Micro Bit replicate BBC Micro success? The BBC's Micro Bit finally launched last week just as the children headed off for the Easter holidays. Many won't get their hands on the tiny computers until they return from their spring break in mid- April, although the hope is that some will play with their new devices at home over the vacation. The BBC has bigger ambitions for the little machine, hoping that it will help kickstart a revolution in coding in the same way as its big brother the BBC Micro did in the 1980s. But how will the Micro Bit - which currently is only on offer to 11 and 12-year-olds around the UK - inspire a generation and what exactly will it inspire them to do? The project is late - and there was clearly a rush to get it into the hands of children before most schools broke up for Easter. This delay is perhaps unsurprising - it is a complex task launching new hardware especially with the huge range of partners that the BBC is working with - but it has frustrated teachers who are hastily rewriting lesson plans, initially slated for the beginning of the academic year. It mean that schools now only have one term to start using the device in classrooms and, perhaps more worryingly, when this year group of students leave the classroom at the end of the summer term they will take the Micro Bits with them, thanks to a decision to give the devices to individuals rather than to schools. "It is vital that there is a fresh supply of Micro Bits each year for it to have a long-term, sustainable future," said Bill Mitchell, director of education at the British Computing Society (BCS). The BBC has said that the devices will be made commercially available from next year although there is little detail about how this will work or how much they will cost. The BBC Micro became the centrepiece of the BBC's first computer literacy push in the 1980s and a hugely influential piece of kit. When it hit the market, an estimated 60% of primary schools and 85% of secondary schools adopted it and many of the influential leaders in the technology industry now cite it as having been crucial to their computing careers. Now those willing the Micro Bit to succeed hope for similar. "Many of our volunteers and staff say that they learnt to code using a BBC Micro and we want to replicate that with the Micro Bit," said Code Club director Clare Sutcliffe. Separate to the roll-out of the device to a million schoolchildren, the BBC is also making extra ones available to after-school clubs such as Code Club. "We will be getting 20,000 Micro Bits in a few weeks time and we plan to give them to the venues so that they can be used over and over again," said Ms Sutcliffe. There is no doubting the fun that children can have with the Micro Bit and it has already inspired a bunch of interesting projects but what is the longer-term goal of the technology? Those who argue in favour of the hands-on approach to computer science say that, just as children learning about Shakespeare need to see the Bard's plays performed to truly understand the work, so those learning about computing need to get under the bonnet. "The Micro Bit is a device that interacts with the physical world and children can see that the device can have a physical effect, which helps them understand how computation can solve problems in the real world. That is hugely important," said Mr Mitchell. He hopes it will create a new generation of school leavers who can "analyse real-world problems and find an algorithm to solve them", which he said will not only put the UK leaps and bounds ahead of other countries but will also help those children as they enter adult life - whatever profession that they choose to pursue. "There is a misapprehension that the new curriculum is about churning out a generation of computer programmers but that is not the case," said Mr Mitchell. "It is about creating a generation of children who can think computationally. " That is something governments around the world are recognising and back in 2014 the UK overhauled the ICT curriculum, which had drifted from teaching hardcore programming in the 1980s to classes about how to use Word and create a spreadsheet from the 1990s onwards. And in the US, President Barack Obama pledged to provide $4 billion in funding for computer science education in US schools. The UK's national curriculum now acknowledges that "high quality computing education equips pupils to use computational thinking and creativity to understand and change the world". The shift in thinking harks back to the era of the BBC Micro although this time around, Mr Mitchell hopes to inspire more than just the computer geeks. "In truth the BBC Micro only reached around 10% of children - those who were interested in hardcore programming. For the rest, it was just far too challenging to get to grips with," he said. The onslaught of new, user-friendly programming languages coupled with gadgets such as the Micro Bit offers a whole new world of opportunity, he thinks. The BCS estimates that a quarter of UK schools are doing "an excellent job" in implementing the new computer science curriculum. The challenge now, said Mr Mitchell, is to convince head teachers in the other three-quarters to put computer science on a par with subjects such as maths and English. CODING REVOLUTION Micro Bit is not the only tiny computer on the market - CodeBug is another similar device designed to introduce kids to programming. And Swedish start-up Quirkbot is shipping a little device that allows children to programme and construct a creature out of LED's, motors and drinking straws. It is working with five Swedish schools and a dozen others around the world to create classroom content for its device. My son is a year too old to get his hands on the first generation of Micro Bit, but he had a go at programming a Quirkbot for a recent STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) project at his school. As a parent what I noticed was the pride he took when the programming worked. He agreed that it was worth the effort. "I found it hard to begin with but I got to grips with it using trial and error. I felt a sense of achievement when I made it move and light up. I think it is a useful tool, but personally I find it challenging. "

2016-03-29 19:28 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

60 Jeh Johnson: 2016 campaign rhetoric about Muslims is ‘counterproductive’ Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Tuesday that recent rhetoric about Muslims by 2016 GOP presidential candidates has been “counterproductive” to the United States’ homeland security and national security interests. “I think that, in this phase, it is critical that we build bridges to American Muslim communities, not vilify them, not drive them into the shadows, and encourage them to work with us,” Mr. Johnson said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Mr. Johnson was asked about Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who recently called for stricter law enforcement patrols in Muslim neighborhoods to stamp out Islamic extremism in the wake of the Brussels attacks. Last year, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump had proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks. SEE ALSO: NYPD commissioner: ‘Our own citizens’ pose bigger threat to Americans than migrants “I believe that inflammatory comments about patrolling and securing Muslim neighborhoods or barring Muslims from entering this country, having an immigration policy based on religion, is counterproductive to our homeland security and national security interests,” Mr. Johnson said. Mr. Cruz has cited an New York Police Department program that reportedly surveilled parts of the city’s Muslim community as an example of what he was talking about, which sparked a back- and-forth with NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton in recent days. Mr. Bratton had written over the weekend that the unit was purposed to map the ethnic makeup of the city to better understand the domain of the New York metro area, and its work was finished. “[W]e do not single out any populace, black, white, yellow or brown for selective enforcement,” Mr. Bratton wrote in the New York Daily News. “We do not ‘patrol and secure’ neighborhoods based on selective enforcement because of race or religion, nor will we use the police and an occupying force to intimidate a populace or a religion to appease the provocative chatter of politicians seeking to exploit fear.” “Bratton has a difficult job, and I am grateful for all he does to keep the people of New York safe,” Mr. Cruz wrote Monday in response. “I also understand that politically, he has no choice but to implement the de Blasio-Obama liberal agenda. But his explanation for dismantling the unit makes no sense; it ignores the nature of the threat that we face from radical Islam.”

2016-03-29 18:08 Homeland Security www.washingtontimes.com

61 A&E strike should be suspended, say medical leaders Medical leaders say the planned all-out strike by junior doctors in England at the end of April over a contract dispute could be damaging to patients and should be suspended. And they say ministers should hold off imposing the controversial contract. The presidents of 22 different Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties say patient welfare must come first. They are asking both sides to "step back from the brink" and re-enter negotiations. "We believe that this is essential if the current impasse is to be broken and progress made in resolving this extremely damaging stand-off for the benefit of all NHS stakeholders, particularly our patients and trainees," says the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges . Meanwhile, more than 1,000 medics have signed a letter asking the Prime Minister to intervene and stop the new junior doctor contract from going ahead. Among the signatories is GP Clare Gerada, former chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners. The letter warns that if the dispute continues "many more doctors will follow the current trend and leave the country to work abroad as they feel disillusioned and unhappy with how they are being treated by your government. " There are two further periods of planned strikes. The first will begin at 08:00 on 6 April for 48 hours when junior doctors will refuse to offer routine care but will provide emergency cover - similar to a Christmas Day service. All-out stoppages are then planned to take place from 08:00 to 17:00 on 26 and 27 April. This would be the first time doctors have removed cover from areas such as A&E and intensive care. Consultants will have to be drafted in from other hospital departments to staff emergency care, potentially causing huge disruption to routine services. Junior doctors' leaders are objecting to plans to introduce a new working contract in England. They say the changes will lead to unsafe shift patterns, harm morale and worsen recruitment and retention of staff. The health secretary says the change will help deliver better care at weekends. A Department of Health spokesperson said they had hoped to have negotiated an agreement by now, but since talks had broken down they "no choice" but to proceed with the contract. Prof Derek Bell, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, said: "The junior contract dispute should not have escalated to the current position with the threat of imposition by the UK Government and a full strike planned by junior doctors, who are understandably aggrieved with the situation. "I have asked the Prime Minister to intervene as a matter of urgency as the only solution that will benefit patients and the long term sustainability of the NHS and its workforce is a negotiated solution. "

2016-03-29 19:28 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

62 Leaving EU 'devastating for young', says Nicky Morgan A vote to leave the European Union could have a devastating impact on the life chances of young people, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has said. Entering the debate over EU membership, she urged parents and grandparents to think how their vote would affect opportunities for the next generation. She also told young people to make sure they voted in June's referendum. The Vote Leave campaign said the EU had been bad for young people, with a generation on the continent unemployed. Speaking on BBC Breakfast ahead of a speech at the Fashion Retail Academy in London, Mrs Morgan said companies were already suspending hiring decisions as they waited for the outcome of the vote on 23 June. "As we saw from the recession that we've just been through, the people who suffer most are the youngest. Those who are trying to get into jobs and careers will suffer if companies and organisations are not hiring," she said. In her speech, she argued there had already been a drop in advertised job vacancies because of employers' fears of a British exit - or Brexit - from Europe. "It's clear, that if Britain leaves Europe it will be young people who suffer the most, left in limbo while we struggle to find and then negotiate an alternative model. In doing so we risk that lost generation becoming a reality," she said. "And everyone who casts their vote must understand that. If parents and grandparents vote to leave, they'll be voting to gamble with their children and grandchildren's future. "At a time when people are rightly concerned about inter-generational fairness, the most unfair decision that the older generation could make would be to take Britain out of Europe and damage the ability of young people to get on in life. " Mrs Morgan said young people were "the generation of Instagram, Easyjet and eBay" and rejected isolation in favour of internationalism. "They don't want to see a Britain cut off from the world, where not only their opportunities, but our influence as a country, ends at our shores. "These young people have grown up in a world where international co-operation, economic growth, technological advancements and social media, have seen barriers being torn down across the world. "Young people today want to see the UK working internationally to tackle the big problems and issues that they care about because they want to make their world a better place. " Her views were backed by the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs , an organisation which supports students in developing their entrepreneurial ideas. Chief executive Johnny Luk said: "We have the best of both worlds. We do not need to bail out any eurozone countries, we have our own currency and have a strong say in an important members' club. "I truly believe the UK should remain part of the European Union to ensure new businesses can flourish and help build a stable society. " Other senior Conservative figures, such as Iain Duncan Smith, have said EU membership makes it harder to control borders and reduce the number of people coming here to work, which has an impact on young people. Vote Leave said Mrs Morgan is wrong to claim there has been a drop in job vacancies. The campaign's spokesman, Robert Oxley, added: "It is depressing that the education secretary is so willing to do down the chances of young people as part of Number 10's desperate bid to win the referendum. "The EU has not been good for young people, driving up costs and forcing down wages while leaving a generation unemployed on the continent. " The referendum on Britain's place in the EU will be held on Thursday 23 June.

2016-03-29 19:27 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

63 The Vocabularist: Three different meanings of mail The price of stamps is going up again. Which raises the complicated subject of where the word "mail" comes from. WH Auden famously wrote "This is the Night Mail, Crossing the Border" for a 1936 Post Office film. The border was that between England and Scotland, where border reivers, sometimes clad in chain mail, extorted "black mail" from the local people. That is three senses of "mail" in one paragraph. Reference books give three different unrelated origins for them. Mail, in the sense of letters, originally meant a bag, and sometimes a travelling-trunk. "Malle" had been used in French from the 11th Century and mallette can still mean a bag or suitcase in French. By the 17th Century it was common to talk of a post-bag as a "mail of letters" and coaches and boats "carrying the mails". In the mid-18th Century Tobias Smollett wrote of a miser's fears "that rack his bosom while the mail is read", showing the word had been extended to the bag's contents too. Chain mail comes from "maille", another 11th Century French word, thought to be from the Latin macula, which means "stain" or "spot" as in "immaculate". This became "mail" - originally a metal ring, one of many sewn together to make a garment for battle. Maille also meant a spot in the plumage of a bird - and this might make the association between spots and armour easier to understand, since a bird's coat is made up of lots of little feathers, as a mail coat is of little rings. And then there is "mail" meaning rent or payment. This dates back at least as far as the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle entry for 1049 when Edward the Confessor paid off nine warships ("scylode IX scypa of male ", ie removed nine ships from pay). But the word survived longer in Scotland and northern England, and it is in the Scots form that we have it - usually compounded as blackmail. An Act of James VI in 1567 required that no-one accept protection from "the said thevis, or pay thame blak maill. " "Mail" in this sense is supposed to be related to Scandinavian words meaning "speech". The idea is that it came to mean an agreement, and therefore an agreed payment. This seems very tenuous. One might almost think it more likely to come from mail meaning "bag". Except that border blackmail was sometimes paid in cattle, and you can't easily get cattle into a bag. Select topic "language" to follow the Vocabularist on the BBC News app Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

2016-03-29 19:27 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

64 The strange silence about Hillarymania: Clinton fires up voters more than Bernie does, so why is no one talking about it? Topics: Hillary Clinton , Bernie Sanders , Donald Trump , enthusiasm gap , clinton enthusiasm , Elections 2016 , Democratic primary , Elections News , Media News , News , Politics News Hillary Clinton suffers from an “enthusiasm gap.” Or so we are told, over and over and over again. Even people who like her can’t really like her, can they? But she reminds middle-aged male pundits of their ex-wives! Surely everyone sees things the same way, don’t they? On Sunday, Howard Gutman of The Washington Post argued that Clinton is so uninspiring that her only hope of winning swing states is anti-Donald Trump sentiment. ” Some people like her and many more tolerate her, but virtually no one is enthusiastic about her,” he writes. Part of the problem, he suggests, is she’s such a boring feminist, which we all know is such a tedious ex-wife quality. “Clinton still talks about glass ceilings rather than gig economies, and everyone has heard her by now, on many occasions,” he writes, calling it the “same pitch, different day” problem. Gah, doesn’t it remind you of how your ex-wife was always on and on about how she expects you to do half the chores and support her career as much as hers and take care of the children and on and on and on? Except not, because the day after Gutman wrote yet another entry into no-one-loves-Clinton story, Gallup released a poll showing that actually, her supporters love her more than any other candidate besides Donald Trump, a man who literally expects everyone around him to act like he’s God’s gift. And yes, Bernie Sanders supporters were polled, and fell about 10 points behind Clinton supporters in the enthusiasm department. Over half of Clinton supporters — 54% — rated themselves as “extremely enthusiastic” or “very enthusiastic.” Only 44% of Sanders supporters could say the same. Sixty-five percent of Trump supporters are high on enthusiasm, which is unsurprising, given that the man literally has his people making loyalty oaths at campaign events. Sanders and Clinton earn their enthusiasm by asking for, rather than demanding, love. As anyone with a computer or TV knows,the narrative has been the opposite of what this hard polling data shows. The assumption is that Sanders is the one with the enthusiastic base and that Clinton’s supporters are dragging their feet to the polls. This is why the Sanders mantra has been that high turnout benefits his candidate, even though he actually performs better in caucus states , where turnout is low compared to primary states, where Clinton does better. (Both common sense and research show that the higher demands on people’s time and participation is a barrier to entry in caucus states.) It’s not hard to see why this false narrative that Sanders inspires more enthusiasm has taken root. He is the challenger running up against the favorite, and it is known that everyone likes an underdog. That, and his surprisingly robust chances against Clinton suggest a rising tide narrative, again not unfairly. On top of that, most journalists who echo the Sanders enthusiasm narrative spend a lot of time on social media, and if you do that, then it’s safe to say that it looks like Sanders is inspiring a lot of enthusiasm. There is an explosion of memes and chatter about the “revolution” and sharing every single story they can find that says something positive about Sanders’s chances. 2016-03-29 18:55 Amanda Marcotte salon.com.feedsportal.com

65 Donald Trump's campaign manager charged with simple battery (CNN) Donald Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was arrested and charged in Jupiter, Florida, with simple battery of former Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields, according to police. Wow, Corey Lewandowski, my campaign manager and a very decent man, was just charged with assaulting a reporter. Look at tapes-nothing there!

2016-03-29 20:34 MJ Lee rss.cnn.com

66 Here’s why North Carolina’s GOP governor is ignoring the backlash to the state’s new attack on LGBT people Topics: 2016 Elections , Donald Trump , LGBT , Religion , pat mcrory , nathan deal , LGBT Rights , News , Politics News If recent headlines out of North Carolina and Georgia have you worried that you stumbled through a rift in spacetime and ended up back in 2014, I have some good news. You did not pull a Franco ; the year is still 2016; Jan Brewer does not currently hold elective office. As firmly ensconced in the here and now you may be, however, the same can’t be said for a significant chunk of the political class in those two aforementioned Southern states. In North Carolina, for example, the governor, Republican Pat McCrory, is vigorously defending the statehouse’s right to override local anti-discrimination laws protecting LGBT people. You could even say he’s “shoving” bigotry “down their throats.” The outrage the move has inspired, he says , is “more political theater than reality.” (Let’s assume his choice of words is not a dogwhistle.) In Georgia, meanwhile, the story is similar but slightly different. There’s an anti-LGBT law involved here, too. But unlike his counterpart to the north, Nathan Deal, Georgia’s Republican governor, is not defending the bill. He vetoed it , in fact. He claimed he did so in order to preserve Georgia’s reputation for “warm, friendly and loving people” — most people think the influence of big business is more to thank (or blame, depending). If that theory is true, though, it suggests that the Republican Party’s coalition — that famed “three-legged stool” of foreign policy hawks, social conservatives, and wealthy people who didn’t want to pay taxes — may be even more broken than we thought. This, after all, can’t be blamed on Donald Trump. So what gives? The Washington Post’s James Hohmann has a theory. And while it’s not especially original, it’s hard to imagine it doesn’t contain multiple kernels of the truth: If you’re trying to understand a politician’s motivations, about 99 percent of the time, “getting reelected” is the correct answer. So I’m not going to disagree with Hohmann, there. Especially if we keep in mind that politics in North Carolina is increasingly purple , and that McCrory, no moderate, will likely need a fired-up base. That said, I wanna toss out another theory, one that might explain why McCrory’s response to big business’ threats to abandon the state has been so blasé. That theory, in two words? Art Pope.

2016-03-29 22:22 Elias Isquith salon.com.feedsportal.com

67 “I put on weight. Big f**king deal”: Wentworth Miller shuts down body-shamers over cruel meme Topics: wentworth miller , Prison Break , Legends of Tomorrow , body shaming , fat-shaming , LGBT , Mental health , Entertainment News Here’s yet another reminder — just because a person is walking around on the planet in corporeal form is not an invitation to snark on his or her appearance. You know what, let’s just let Wentworth Miller explain it. The 43 year-old screenwriter and current “Legends of Tomorrow” star has already dealt with more than his share of ignorance, in all sorts of forms, over the course of his career. As a biracial man, he’s confessed he’s been in “situations where I might be standing around with a group of white friends and someone makes a comment that they wouldn’t make, say, at my family reunion. It leaves a cut. Someone calls you ‘n___er’ and it’s like a knife to the gut. To be in that sort of situation it’s just a little nick, but you suffer enough nicks and you bleed to death just the same.” And three years ago he recalled how, as a gay teen, “The first time I tried to kill myself I was 15. I waited until my family went away for the weekend and I was alone in the house and I swallowed a bottle of pills.” He said that “Growing up I was a target. Speaking the right way, standing the right way, holding your wrist the right way. Every day was a test and there were a thousand ways to fail. To not live up to someone else’s standards of what was acceptable…. And when you failed the test, which was guaranteed, there was a price to pay. Emotional. Psychological. Physical. And like many of you, I paid that price. More than once.” Now, he’s speaking out again , this time about body shaming. On his Facebook page Monday, he referred to a meme posted by The Lad Bible. In it, an image of him, shirtless and as his “Prison Break” character of several years ago, appeared next to another one of him from a few years later, smiling but a few pounds heavier. The caption read, “When you break out of prison and find out about McDonald’s monopoly…” Miller shared the image, along with the story behind it. “In 2010, semi-retired from acting, I was keeping a low-profile for a number of reasons,” he wrote. “First and foremost, I was suicidal. This is a subject I’ve since written about, spoken about, shared about. But at the time I suffered in silence. As so many do. The extent of my struggle known to very, very few.” As he recalled, “Eating became the one thing I could look forward to. Count on to get me through. There were stretches when the highlight of my week was a favorite meal and a new episode of TOP CHEF. Sometimes that was enough. Had to be. And I put on weight. Big f–king deal. One day, out for a hike in Los Angeles with a friend, we crossed paths with a film crew shooting a reality show. Unbeknownst to me, paparazzi were circling. They took my picture, and the photos were published alongside images of me from another time in my career. ‘Hunk To Chunk.’ ‘Fit To Flab.’ Etc.”

2016-03-29 22:22 Mary Elizabeth salon.com.feedsportal.com

68 Should diplomats still have immunity? Diplomatic immunity puts officials from overseas above the law of the country in which they live. Is the system open to abuse? Imagine breaking the law and no-one can stop you. Ignoring parking tickets. Never paying tax. Getting away with murder. It's all possible, in theory, if you're an ambassador. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention, diplomats are immune from prosecution in their host country. The system has long proved controversial - not least since PC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libyan Embassy in 1984 - and is once again under the spotlight thanks to an unusual battle fought in London's courts. Saudi businessman Sheikh Walid Juffali launched a diplomatic immunity defence after his ex- wife, former Pirelli model Christina Estrada, made a claim on his estimated £4bn fortune. The court heard they separated in 2013. In a move that had led to raised eyebrows in the press, Juffali was appointed in 2014 by the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia as its permanent representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), which has its secretariat in London. In February, Mr Justice Hayden ruled at the High Court this diplomatic status was "an entirely artificial construct" as Juffali had "no pre-existing connection to St Lucia" and there was no evidence that he had "any knowledge or experience of maritime matters". Read the full document here Last week, the Court of Appeal said the judge had been wrong to rule Juffali was not "entitled in principle to immunity". However, it dismissed the appeal on the basis that his diplomatic status was irrelevant as Juffali was a permanent British resident and thus liable to civil action, as permanent residents serving as diplomats are immune only from prosecution for official acts. After the verdict, a spokesman for Juffali said he was "committed to maintaining his diplomatic duties" and noted that St Lucia's prime minister had testified to the "exemplary manner" in which Juffali had carried out his role. However, he was "dismayed" by the court's decision that he was a UK permanent resident. In a statement , the government of St Lucia said it "has, and will always, follow full due process" in appointing diplomats and Juffali's case was no different. The IMO declined to comment. The convention of diplomatic immunity - intended to prevent embassy staff being harassed when operating in hostile countries - is a long-standing cornerstone of international relations that dates back centuries prior to being enshrined in the Vienna Convention. However, the Juffali case is not the first time diplomatic immunity - which covers around 25,000 people in the UK, including families of some diplomats as well as the officials themselves - has attracted scrutiny. In 2010 the then-Foreign Secretary William Hague released details of 18 crimes - including sexual assault, human trafficking, threats to kill and drink-driving - of which diplomats in the UK had been accused during 2010. In December it was reported that embassy workers had run up £95m of unpaid congestion charges in London - because they argue it is a tax, not a charge for service, and thus exempt under the Vienna Convention. It was ruled in February that because of his diplomatic status, Sheikh Hamad Bin-Jassim Bin- Jaber Al Thani - one of the world's richest men and the former prime minister of Qatar - could not be sued in the UK over claims a British-Qatari dual national was falsely imprisoned. Sheikh Hamad and the state of Qatar have denied any wrongdoing , with lawyers for the billionaire saying the man in question had been treated "in the manner that accorded fully with Qatari and international law". Diplomatic immunity versus local law Cases like these have led to calls for the whole system to be overhauled. Human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson QC says the Vienna Convention made sense in the days of the Cold War - when embassy staff working in hostile nations were at risk of being framed or caught in honeytraps - but has passed its sell-by date. "What it does is put diplomats above the law," he says. "It's a breach of Magna Carta. "I think the Vienna Convention needs redrafting to limit diplomatic immunity. I don't think diplomatic immunity should extend to any civil case. It should only extend to criminal cases in limited circumstances. " He also argues that the definition of "diplomat" is too wide - encompassing not just ambassadors representing their nation in overseas embassies, but also at specialised agencies of the United Nations and other international bodies. And while it's unusual for states to nominate foreign nationals as diplomats, as in the case of Juffali, there are concerns that the system could potentially be exploited by those trying to evade the court process. "There are a number of countries around the world where you can effectively buy citizenship," says solicitor Mark Stephens, a former president of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association. There's a danger this could be taken a step further for the right price, he believes. "If you are a Mr Big behind a multi-million-pound fraud it behoves you to get a diplomatic passport so you have diplomatic immunity. " In practice, however, ambassadorial status does not put you entirely outside the boundaries of the law - unlike Joss Ackland's drug-smuggling South African consul-general in that definitive big-screen portrayal of diplomatic statecraft, Lethal Weapon 2, who waves his diplomatic passport while committing nefarious deeds. The Vienna Convention allows host nations to declare persona non grata and expel diplomats - who, after all, are civil servants, liable to be prosecuted for serious offences in their own country. In exceptional cases, they can be brought to justice in the host nation. After Georgian diplomat Gueorgui Makharadze, who had been drinking heavily, killed a teenager in a car crash in Washington, DC in 1997, US authorities asked Georgia to revoke his immunity. They did so, and Makharadze pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. And in November 2015 a Libyan man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder PC Fletcher as a result of new lines of inquiry opening up following fall of the Col Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Supporters of the system say it is vital to prevent ambassadors and other embassy staff being harassed and hauled before courts on spurious grounds in an effort to prevent them doing their job. "It's an essential tool. It protects our diplomats serving abroad," says Craig Barker, professor of international law at London South Bank University. He adds that it is up to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to block any diplomatic appointments that appear suspicious or to expel any who commit serious offences. A spokesman for the FCO says diplomatic immunity allows British officials to represent the UK's national interests around the world, even in hostile regimes. He adds that the system is not intended to benefit individuals personally and the Vienna Convention expects diplomats to abide by the law of their host countries. "The UK takes a firm line with diplomatic missions whose diplomats commit offences and in the most serious cases we will demand they withdraw the individual from the country. " Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had criticised the high court judge's decision to strip Juffali's immunity, and the FCO submitted an opinion to the Court of Appeal saying the original High Court judge had "erred" in doing so. The FCO did not, however, intervene in the ruling that Juffali was ineligible for immunity due to being a UK resident. The system may be as old as statecraft itself, but the debate is likely to continue. Follow Jon Kelly on Twitter @mrjonkelly Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

2016-03-29 19:29 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

69 Ann Coulter begins to sour on Donald Trump: “Our candidate is mental!” Topics: Ann Coulter , Donald Trump , Video , Milo Yiannopoulos , Heidi Cruz , GOP Civil War , 2016 Republican primary , Elections News , Media News , News , Politics News If any shock jock on the right-wing radio and book circuit was most naturally aligned with a Donald Trump presidential campaign, it most certainly was Ann Coulter. And the controversial conservative talker has been a vocal and loyal supporter of her fellow blond, anti-immigrant firebrand longer and more aggressively than any other loud-mouth Trump backer — until this week. “Our candidate is mental,” Coulter told Breitbart’s Milo Yiannopoulos during the inaugural episode of his new podcast on Monday. “Do you realize our candidate is mental?” Coulter asked her fellow blond, controversial Trump backer. “I am a little testy with our man right now,” Coulter admitted to Yiannopoulos, revealing the first cracks in her steadfast support for the blustery billionaire. When Trump was criticized for encouraging violence from his supporters who encountered protesters at his campaign rallies, Coulter rushed to take credit for being the source of every Trump fan’s anti-Mexican rage and called for a “little more violence.” When Trump suffered a surprise defeat to Ted Cruz in Iowa, Coulter declared him the winner among those actually eligible to run — a not-so-subtle dig at Cruz’s Canadian birthplace. Trump “has been more a victim than a victimizer,” Coulter assured Yiannopoulos, arguing that she could defend all but two of Trump’s past controversial statements and specifically shrugging off Trump’s dismissal of John McCain as a war hero, before hitting Trump for his recent “half- baked tweets at midnight.” Coulter, of course, was referring to Trump’s election night tweet last week, threatening to “spill the beans” on Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi.

2016-03-29 22:22 Sophia Tesfaye salon.com.feedsportal.com

70 Tata to decide fate of UK steelworks Steel giant Tata is holding a board meeting in India which could decide the fate of thousands of UK workers. In January, Tata said it planned to cut more than a thousand jobs at its UK plants - with 750 due to be lost at Port Talbot in south Wales. Unless the board meeting in Mumbai agrees to this turnaround plan, the future of the plant could be in doubt. The UK steel industry has been hit by a combination of factors that have hit its competitiveness. Why is Port Talbot steelworks important? How the town's fortunes mirror the steelworks Port Talbot steelworks: Through generations of one family These factors include relatively high energy prices, the extra cost of climate change policies, and competition from China. There have been allegations that Chinese steel is being "dumped" on world markets at unrealistically low prices, prices that UK plants cannot compete with. At the same time China's economy has remained sluggish, meaning that the demand for steel from that nation's construction sector is not as strong as it once was. Meanwhile, Business Minister Anna Soubry told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the government was prepared to consider "all options" to ensure that steel production continued at Port Talbot. "We are looking at all manner of options that may or may not be available to us as a government, all options," she said. "It starts from a base of making sure that we continue to make steel in Port Talbot. " Last week, Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK government wanted "to be very supportive and very helpful" to the UK steel industry. There are strict EU rules that restrict how much support governments can give to particular industries. If it were down to words alone - then the Port Talbot plant would surely be safe. Ministers have spoken of their "unshakeable determination" to ensure "a sustainable future for the British steel industry" and promised "all options" will be considered. In practice however the government's options look a lot more limited. Talk of higher EU tariffs to bar cheap Chinese imports looks unlikely given lobbying by the big steel users who benefit from the lower costs. Direct taxpayer support is illegal under EU state aid rules. Finding a buyer is a long shot since none was found to save the Redcar steel plant last year. Even short-term state ownership while a buyer is found - as the Scottish government has done with two of its much smaller steel plants - looks unlikely given the larger scale of the Port Talbot operation. Some within the Labour high command believe the government should consider nationalisation. Needless to say this is hardly something a Conservative government is likely to consider. This means the best option would appear to be encouraging Tata Steel to hang on to Port Talbot in the hope steel prices recover and costs at the plant can be reduced. The fate of Port Talbot would appear - despite the rhetoric from Westminster - to lie very firmly in the hands of the Tata Board in Mumbai. Before the Tata board meeting, Welsh steel representatives held talks in India with company board members. Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the union Community, along with Stephen Kinnock, MP for Aberavon, and Frits van Wieringen, chairman of the Tata Steel European works council, met senior representatives from the firm. According to BBC India business reporter Yogita Limaye, Tata "will be wary of the impact on its reputation" if it is forced to close the Port Talbot plant, as it is seen in India as a firm that cares for its employees. The final decision on whether to approve the turnaround plan will be made by the 11-member Tata Steel board, led by chairman Cyrus Mistry. Last week two mothballed Tata Steel plants in Scotland were involved in a deal which will see them acquired by international metals firm Liberty House. The agreement involves the Scottish Government buying the Clydebridge and Dalzell plants in Lanarkshire from Tata, and immediately selling them on to Liberty. Tata is one of India's oldest and biggest conglomerates and they own more than a hundred companies that have interests ranging from tea and telecoms, to salt and steel. The firm is also one of India's most respected companies, and one that is conscious of how it is perceived. That will play a part in making the decision on Port Talbot, but on the other hand there are also compelling economic factors that the board will have to consider. In its financial results released in February 2016, the company blamed competition from cheap Chinese imports, regulatory costs in the UK and the strong pound for losses at its UK steel business. They've also said regulatory action is needed in the UK to enable the business to compete fairly. Do you work for Tata? What are your hopes for the future of the plant? Share your comments and experiences with us at: [email protected] Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: Or comment here: 2016-03-29 18:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

71 NUT says tackling teacher shortage 'should be priority' Teachers are calling for tackling staff shortages to be made a priority rather than "politically motivated" projects such as academies and free schools. The National Union of Teachers heard warnings of a "crisis" in schools struggling to recruit teachers. Teachers warned of excessive workload and inadequate pay damaging both recruitment and retention. A Department for Education spokesman said: "We're investing hundreds of millions in teacher recruitment. " The National Union of Teachers' conference in Brighton heard warnings about the recruitment problems facing schools. Christine Blower, the union's leader, described it as a "desperately serious situation". "The causes of the retention problem are clear: workload, workload, workload - for not enough pay," said Ms Blower. The conference backed a motion promising "support for members up to and including strike action" for any teachers facing worse conditions because of staff shortages. Mark Taylor from Birmingham said he worked as a supply teacher and had been in schools where a third of staff were now supply teachers, because schools could not recruit full-time staff. Paul Mcgarr from east London said teachers did not go into the profession for money, but the worsening quality of their working lives was driving people to leave. There were also warnings that teachers' salaries had not kept up with rising costs, such as housing. Ceinwen Hilton from Islington in north London said that for inner-city areas the price of housing was proving a "serious cause of hardship" for teachers. She described a young teacher who was sharing a room, in a shared house, with the single room costing £1,000 per month. She said that many teachers were now renting from private landlords and in London the cost was becoming unaffordable, forcing teachers out of the capital. The union conference highlighted teacher shortages and concerns about school funding as the "two most serious threats" to the quality of education. Delegates backed calls to make teacher shortages a spending priority, rather than "diverting money to politically motivated policies" such as academies and free schools. They also accused the changes to training routes into teaching as being "chaotic". But the Department for Education rejected the claims, saying that there had already been substantial spending on recruitment and that school vacancies were not unusually high. "We're investing hundreds of millions in teacher recruitment and the vacancy rate has remained low at around 1% over the last 15 years," said an education department spokesman. "In fact, last year we recruited 116% of our primary schools target, and the pupil teacher ratio has remained stable when compared to 2010. "We know unnecessary workload is one of the biggest frustrations for teachers and have done more than ever to tackle this by publishing the results of the three workload review groups on marking, planning and data collection - the three biggest concerns raised by teachers through the workload challenge - and accepting all their recommendations. "

2016-03-29 18:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

72 “Batman v. Superman” isn’t a flop: A superhero movie that questions absolute power is tailor-made for 2016 Topics: batman v superman , Movies , Zack Snyder , superheroes , Entertainment News The reviews are in for “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice”… and they aren’t good. It currently scores a 29 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and a 44 on Metacritic , with the general consensus being that it has a muddled and confusing plot, an over-reliance on special effects, and so many characters that it’s hard to feel emotionally invested in anything that happens on screen. Yet despite this critical shellacking, “Batman v. Superman” is arguably resonating with audiences (emphasis on the word “arguably”). Certainly its record-breaking $166.1 million opening weekend indicates widespread interest and positive word-of-mouth, although its relatively low Cinemascore of B – on par with duds like “Catwoman” and “The Green Lantern” – suggests this initial enthusiasm may eventually cool into a tepid response. Nevertheless, if we’re going to understand why “Batman v. Superman” has been so successful among moviegoers (at least thus far) despite the overwhelmingly negative critical response, it is necessary to examine the movie’s political message – or, more precisely, how that message has shaped audience perception of the film. First, a word about the screening I attended, which fortunately for me had an audience which didn’t hesitate to loudly proclaim its opinions. When Superman complained to his mother that humans weren’t appreciating his services, someone behind me sarcastically muttered “Oh boo hoo.” Later on, when an anti-Superman protester spray painted “False God” on a statue of the titular hero, an elderly gentleman a few seats to my left muttered “Yep” and audibly gasped when the vandal was charged with terrorism and a hate crime. During a fight scene between Batman and Superman, a friend who joined me at the screening whispered, “How can Batman be a good guy? Everything he’s doing is motivated by hate.” Finally, as I left the theater, a little boy asked his mother who he was supposed to root for, since “both of them weren’t very nice at all.” In short, this was an audience that didn’t just enjoy the film as an action-packed spectacle, but genuinely picked up on and appreciated its attempts at conveying deeper themes. Some may have loved the movie and others may have hated it, but there is no question that all of them (or at least the vocal ones) had strong reactions to its political subtext. Yet what exactly was that subtext? If the critics are to believed, “Batman v. Superman” is only so much sound and fury signifying nothing. Alex Abad-Santos of Vox denounced it as “a stupidly beautiful, hollow movie,” Salon’s own Andrew O’Hehir wrote that Snyder “seems kinda dumb,” Adam Howard of MSNBC reassured fans that “a Trojan horse for fascism, it is not,” and Alyssa Rosenberg of “The Washington Post” insisted that “ I’m all for looking for meaning in blockbuster movies, but those films need to work a lot harder than ‘Batman v. Superman’ does to earn the right to our consideration. ” While most critics have commendably tried to play down accusations of a totalitarian or right-wing bias, they have generally done so by insisting that the film isn’t deep enough to have a coherent philosophy at all – a slap in the face to Warner Bros. and DC executives who, ironically enough, expressed concern that “Batman v. Superman” would flop because it was “too smart” for general audiences. Given its bombastic and overly self-serious tone, it’s understandable that critics would be inclined to malign it, but their attitudes are a tad unfair. “Batman v. Superman” may lack the social commentary of “The Dark Knight” trilogy or bold iconoclasm of “V for Vendetta,” but it does have an ideology – namely, its distrust of power. To Batman and many residents of both Metropolis and Gotham, Superman is a self-appointed overlord whose complete unaccountability makes him an existential threat to humanity, regardless of his claims that he only wants to help. Indeed, the film opens by revisiting the controversial Metropolis fight from “Man of Steel,” one that many critics noted would have resulted in hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties , showing how the stupendous loss of life (and Superman’s callous disregard for it) motivates Batman’s hatred. Of course, in Superman’s eyes, Batman is nothing more than a vigilante, someone whose ability to operate above the law speaks not to his superior moral qualities but rather the corruption of a police department that refuses to prosecute him. And when we see Bruce Wayne branding criminals with the Bat logo, it’s hard to disagree with Superman’s assessment.

2016-03-29 19:28 Matthew Rozsa salon.com.feedsportal.com

73 Bongbong backs Arroyo's bid to seek treatment abroad PAMPANGA - Vice presidential aspirant Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. supports former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in her desire to seek medical treatment abroad, labeling the Aquino administration as "very un-Filipino" for disallowing such. Marcos believes the next administration should allow Arroyo to leave the country and consult with doctors and hospitals she desires for the improvement of her health. "Bakit hindi siya hayaang pagamutin ang kanyang karamdaman? May kaso siya, but at the very least, pagamutin natin," Marcos said Tuesday during a press conference in the middle of his campaign in Arroyo's bailiwick Pampanga. "Si Ninoy Aquino nga na may sakit pinayagan noon ng aking ama na magpagamot," he said. "Kahit sino naman, may kaso man o wala, dapat magpagamot, yun ang dapat nating unahin. " Marcos slammed the Aquino administration for stopping Arroyo from seeking treatment abroad. "I don't understand the policy of this government, it is very un-Filipino," he said. After getting support from some local officials in President Benigno Aquino III's home province of Tarlac Monday, Marcos is now trying to woo voters in Pampanga - a known bailiwick of Mrs. Arroyo. Marcos did not deny his desire to get support from the former President. "I'm hoping to gain her support," said Marcos. The senator is getting help from some Arroyo allies for his Pampanga sortie today including former Candaba Mayor Gerry Pelayo, who once served as Arroyo's spokesman for political affairs. Marcos also claimed that he is getting support from other local officials of Pampanga affiliated with other political parties, but refused to name them. "Many at least at the municipal level, sa mga nakakausap namin wala pa namang tumatanggi. " The Liberal Party (LP) has claimed Pampanga as one of its strongholds in this year's elections, owing to the support given by the Pinedas and the Lapids to its standard bearer Mar Roxas and his running mate Leni Robredo. Marcos started his day of campaign in Marcos Village in Mabalacat, Pampanga, where he and his sons, Simon and Vincent, danced with some Aeta children as a start-up to a mini-political rally in the community's covered court. It was the first time that his sons joined him in his campaign. Marcos said he does not see them joining Philippine politics in the future. "Not necessarily," he said. "Andito sila kasi bakasyon nila ngayon kaya sinama na namin para makaikot-ikot sila. Mabuti na yung nalalaman nila ang nangyayari dito sa atin. " The senator also campaigned in the towns of Angeles City, Magalang, Mexico, Porac, and Floridablanca, where he held a political rally at the municipal covered court together with the town Mayor Eduardo Guerrero.

2016-03-29 19:14 Ron Gagalac news.abs-cbn.com

74 US-Turkey: The strained alliance It's a diplomatic relationship that is deeply in crisis, but one that remains of crucial importance to both countries. Rarely have relations between the US and one of its key Nato allies been so poor as those between Washington and Ankara. "Damage limitation" may be an understatement to describe one of the main aims behind the visit the of the Turkish President, Recep Tayip Erdogan to the US this week. It has become increasingly clear what both these presidents think of each other. In his recent study of Barack Obama's foreign policy - the product of multiple interviews with the president - Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic summed up Mr Obama's view of his Turkish counterpart in terms of disappointed expectations. Goldberg notes that "early on", Obama saw Erdogan "as the sort of moderate Muslim leader who would bridge the divide between East and West - but Obama now considers him a failure and an authoritarian, one who refuses to use his enormous army to bring stability to Syria. " Whatever Mr Obama may think about his Turkish counterpart in private, Mr Erdogan has been much more outspoken in public. Just one example - earlier this month he condemned the Obama Administration's support for Kurdish fighters in Syria, insisting that Washington's inability to grasp their true nature had turned the region into "a sea of blood" . The differences between Washington and Ankara are various, not least reflecting US disappointment at the current drift in Turkish domestic affairs. But it is the Syrian crisis, and in particular the role of Kurdish militias in the fight against so- called Islamic State (IS) that has crystallised US-Turkish tensions. US and Turkish disagreements over Syria reflect fundamental differences on both strategy and goals. From the outset Turkey backed rebel groups in Syria opposed to the Assad regime. Indeed his removal became a strategic necessity for the Turkish government; the only way they believed stability could be restored. Turkey has been directly hit by the crisis - not just by the spill-over of terrorism across its own borders. It has also been forced to contend with a huge wave of Syrian refugees. That is one of the reasons why the Turks have backed the idea of establishing "safe zones" inside Syria; areas that could be protected by US and allied air power as well as forces on the ground. That idea has been consistently opposed by the Obama administration. The US was no friend of President Assad but its focus was elsewhere - the struggle against IS in both Syria and Iraq. Given the absence of any clear alternative governing arrangements in Syria, Iraq appeared to be Washington's priority, while it helped arm rebel groups in Syria its efforts initially had little impact. Turkey, with its long land border with both Syria and Iraq was clearly of huge strategic importance in Washington's anti-IS campaign. The US pressed to use Turkish air bases though for a long period the Turks were reluctant. When they did finally approve their use it appeared to represent to many observers something of a quid pro quo for the US turning a blind eye to Turkish strikes against the Kurds. For it is Kurdish dynamics, rather more than IS, that has dominated thinking in Ankara. Kurdish fighters have been among the most successful ground forces battling IS. Who are the Kurds? In the process they have received considerable material support from Washington. This has been like a red-rag to a bull for the Turks who, already battling a Kurdish insurgency within Turkey, fear any Kurdish successes that might encourage Kurdish national aspirations. So Ankara and Washington are allies, but at the same time pretty much at loggerheads over Syria. Russia's military intervention on the side of President Assad only added a new complication. Turkey's shooting down of a Russian jet that briefly intruded into its air space prompted an ambivalent reaction from its NATO allies. In public there was strong support for Turkey. But in private many of them were alarmed at what they saw as a strand of recklessness in Ankara's behaviour. US fighters were briefly deployed to patrol Turkish air space but were almost as quickly withdrawn. US-Turkish strategic differences over Syria are one thing. But both governments need to find sufficient common ground to move forward with the campaign. The growing IS terrorist threat to Turkey may encourage some flexibility in Ankara. Turkey would dearly love to roll back Kurdish gains in Syria but it wants other things too. Turkey's position is not necessarily as strong as it appears. It now has few friends or allies in the region. Gone are the days when Mr Davotoglu, as the then foreign minister, proposed a new Turkish foreign policy of "zero problems" with all its neighbours. Now it has problems on all its frontiers. Ankara's "new Ottomanism" , its bid to secure a role as a major player in the Middle East, may have run its course. The Syria crisis has exacerbated Turkish fears of Kurdish autonomy; it has renewed its campaign against Kurdish militants inside Turkey; it is now under threat from IS terrorism; it faces chaos across its borders with both Iraq and Syria. Turkey also has an uneasy relationship with Washington; terrible relations with Moscow; and it has fallen out with other key regional players like Israel with whom it once was close. Turkey badly needs a reset in its foreign policy. Washington could help with that. But on Syria their differences remain so fundamental, it is hard to see how any compromise can be achieved.

2016-03-29 19:51 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

75 Brazil's PMDB party quits ruling coalition The largest party in Brazil's governing coalition, the PMDB, has voted to pull out. The centrist party called for an "immediate exit" from President Dilma Rousseff's government. The move could hasten impeachment proceedings against President Rousseff, correspondents say. Opposition lawmakers want to remove Ms Rousseff over claims that she manipulated accounts to hide a growing deficit. The decision comes a day after tourism minister Henrique Eduardo Alves from the PMDB - the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party - stood down. At a leadership meeting on Tuesday, the PMDB decided that its six remaining ministers in President Rousseff's cabinet must resign or face ethics proceedings. "The decision was taken by acclaim in a historical meeting marking the withdrawal from Dilma (Rousseff's) government," Senator Romero Juca tweeted [in Spanish] . The BBC's Laura Bicker in Sao Paulo says President Rousseff could now be temporarily suspended from office by Congress as early as May. She would be replaced by Vice President Michel Temer, leader of the PMDB, while the Senate decides if she should permanently leave her post, our correspondent adds. Speaking before the vote, Osmar Terra, a lawmaker from the PMDB, said he had little doubt which way it would go. Brazil tumbles like 'House of Cards' Rousseff faces perfect storm Brazil's bigger threats What's gone wrong? "It will be a goodbye to the government," he said. Analysts say a considerable number of lawmakers from the PMDB have felt uneasy about their alliance with the left-wing Workers' Party for a while. Their unease has been compounded by calls for Ms Rousseff's impeachment and a widening corruption scandal involving senior members in the Workers' Party. The president needs one third of the members of the lower house of Congress to vote against her impeachment for the proceedings to be shelved. Without the PMDB, she could lose as many as 69 votes at once in the 513-member Chamber of Deputies. Another of Ms Rousseff's coalition partners, the centre-left Social Democratic Party (PSD) said it had given its lawmakers a free vote in any possible impeachment proceedings. On Monday, Ms Rousseff's mentor and predecessor in office, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, likened the moves to impeach her to a coup. But Lula himself is under pressure. The Supreme Court suspended his appointment as Ms Rousseff's chief of staff earlier this month and is due to take a final decision on the matter next week. Opponents of the government said the president had given Lula the post so he could escape investigation and possible proceedings over allegations of money laundering. Under Brazilian law, cabinet members can only be investigated by the Supreme Court, not by lower courts. There have been mass protests demanding the impeachment of President Rousseff in cities like Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. But there have also been rallies in support of the government by those who say the president is the victim of a campaign to drive the Workers' Party from government.

2016-03-29 19:19 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

76 Cracked iPhone: Should you be worried? The US government's declaration that it has "successfully accessed the data stored on [San Bernardino gunman] Farook's iPhone and therefore no longer requires" assistance from Apple, ends a six week-long legal clash between the tech firm and the FBI. But it leaves the issue at the heart of the dispute unresolved: could the FBI have forced Apple to help it unlock the device? It is unlikely that this will be the last time a law enforcement agency tries to compel a tech company to help bypass security measures. It had been reported that there were about a dozen other cases in which the US Justice Department was pursuing court orders to force Apple to help its investigators. The highest profile of these was in Brooklyn, New York, where the FBI wanted access to an iPhone belonging to a defendant who had already pleaded guilty to drug dealing. In that case, a federal judge had rejected the DoJ's effort to invoke the All Writs Act - a three- centuries-old statute that allows court orders to be issued in circumstances where other laws don't apply. The DoJ had launched an appeal, but it is not yet clear if it will continue or drop it. Its decision may be based on whether the technique used to extract data from Farook's handset can be used in other cases. The New York case involved an iPhone 5S running the iOS 7 operating system, while the San Bernardino, California case was about an iPhone 5C running the more modern iOS 9. What works against one device might not work against the other. But assuming the US government will at some point try again to use the All Writs Act to force Apple or some other tech company to circumvent its data protection measures, it may take a Supreme Court ruling to determine whether this is truly within the authorities' power. At this point, there is nothing to compel the FBI to reveal how it was done, although Apple is likely to be pressing hard to find out. The tech firm's lawyers have already said they would want details of the technique to be made public if evidence from the cracked iPhone is later used at trial. But it could remain secret. There is scope within US law for the authorities to withhold the source of information if it was supplied to them on a confidential basis, and to protect sensitive intelligence-gathering methodologies. Not necessarily. The court order originally obtained by the FBI had instructed Apple to come up with a special version of its operating system that would have prevented Farook's iPhone from deleting its data or imposing long lockout periods if too many incorrect passcode guesses were made. However, the latest court filings do not say that someone else has now done this, but merely that some data stored on the device has been obtained. Researchers at the cybersecurity firm IOActive had proposed that one way of getting data off an iPhone would be to "de-cap" its memory chips. The process they described involved using acid and lasers to expose and copy ID information about the device so that efforts to crack its passcode could be simulated on another computer without risk of triggering the original iPhone's self-destruct tool. If indeed this is what happened, it is not easy and there's a high risk of causing so much damage to the phone that the desired data becomes irretrievable. By contrast, Cellebrite - a data forensics firm that has reportedly helped the FBI with the case - has previously discussed "bypassing" passcode locks rather than trying to deduce the number. But it is possible that doing this would yield access to only a limited amount of a handset's data. One other point is that Apple recently updated its iOS software. Each upgrade adds security fixes. So, if the FBI has indeed been alerted to a flaw in Farook's phone's security settings, that bug may no longer exist in devices that have installed iOS 9.3. Short of destroying the device, perhaps no. But you can use encryption-enabled apps to digitally scramble data. The chat tool Wickr Messenger, for instance, lets you set it so that you have to enter a password each time you log back into the app. Likewise, PQChat requires typing in a five-digit passcode of its own to get access. So, even if a cracked iPhone did give up the contents of its text messages, emails and WhatsApp chats, the contents of the apps mentioned above should remain safe. All this presumes, however, that the authorities do not manage to install spyware on your device. If that happens, all bets are off. As part of her efforts to pass the Investigatory Powers Bill, the home secretary Theresa May has said that tech firms wouldn't have hand over encryption keys or build backdoors into their platforms. But the law still makes mention of "equipment interference warrants". Campaigners at the Electronic Frontier Foundation have warned that these could be used to force Apple and others to insert new code into a device in order to help the authorities extract data, in a similar manner to the FBI's earlier order. The EFF adds that "matching gag orders" would prevent the firms from informing their customers or even their own lawyers about the act. Equipment interference warrants already exist under the UK's current law. And for now, the focus of Apple and other tech firms is getting the Investigatory Powers Bill amended to say that in the future the warrants could only be amended with the permission of a judge. But were there to be a case where the UK police attempted to coerce Apple to override its protective measures, it might still resist - even if the fact never became public.

2016-03-29 18:47 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

77 In pictures: Online community award-winning images The online photography community Photocrowd.com, has announced the winners in its international photo competition on the theme of work places. The 13 winning images reveal the diversity of workplaces and professions across the globe. Founded by two professional photographers from the UK, Photocrowd.com is a global, independent online community for photographers - whether it's their hobby, their job, or somewhere in-between.

2016-03-29 12:50 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

78 PNoy defends anew gov't Yolanda response Pushes transfer of airport from Tacloban to Ormoc MANILA - President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday defended anew his administration's response in the aftermath of super typhoon "Yolanda" during a graduation program of local government planners from provinces affected by the storm. In his speech, Aquino cited positive reviews made by foreigners on how government responded. While not addressing it directly, Aquino's remarks on Yolanda came as his preferred successor Mar Roxas was drawing flak for a comic book depicting him as a hero during the storm. LOOK: Comic book claims Roxas was a 'hero' during Yolanda "During the Asia-Europe Meeting Manila Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in 2014, Kristalina Georgieva, the then EU Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, said that while there is still much work to be done, what we achieved in the immediate aftermath of the storm was remarkable and a lesson for the global community. "The World Bank's Country Director for the Philippines at the time, Motoo Konishi, also said that our response to Yolanda 'set a new standard on how to shrink the time between the disaster hitting, relief work being carried out, moving on to early recovery, and then to reconstruction,'" Aquino said. He said his administration exercised "healthy impatience" in dealing with recovery efforts, adding that he is aware there is still a lot of work to do. He emphasized that to "build back better" entails building infrastructure that could withstand storms. "Nevertheless, our administration has always approached our continuing recovery from Yolanda with a healthy impatience. More than anyone else, we are aware that there are so many more houses to build, roads and bridges to repair, and seaports to fix. In fact, I often call in my Cabinet so I can receive regular updates on our progress, or lack thereof, and briefings about the issues we have to overcome to further accelerate the recovery process," he said. MOVING TACLOBAN AIRPORT He also defended the proposal to move Tacloban airport to Ormoc, saying that the current location of the airport has proven to be vulnerable to storm surges. "There is no scientifically sound way this particular airport [could be] invulnerable to the next storm surge. The conclusion is that the airport therefore must be moved, which entails quite a thorough study. After all, the current alternative in Ormoc is also vulnerable, given the same conditions," he said. "Of course, constructing a new airport will bring development to a different area, while making Tacloban less central to the local economy. That, of course, breeds local resistance, but in this case, logic has to triumph over sentimentalism and emotion, because we have to ensure that this basic facility-vital to any relief work-has to be always available. " A total of 146 provincial, city, and municipal planners from the so-called Yolanda corridor graduated from the Development Academy of the Philippines with a master's degree in Public Management major in Local Governance and Development Program. The program was funded by the USAID with the objective of providing LGU planners with the necessary skills in disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. US Ambassador Philip Goldberg was among the guests. READ: Roxas: Nothing wrong with 'Yolanda' comics

2016-03-29 18:54 Willard Cheng news.abs-cbn.com

79 79 Comelec powerless to stop Pacquiao-Bradley fight broadcast MANILA - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has no power to stop the broadcast of the impending match of senatorial aspirant Manny Pacquiao against Timothy Bradley, the Comelec en banc ruled Tuesday. The fight is set to happen on April 9, which would be two weeks into the 45-day campaign period for the May 9, 2016 local elections. Speaking to reporters during the poll body's weekly briefing, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the en banc took notice of three aspects: - first, that no formal complaint has been filed in accordance with Comelec rules and procedures; - that the fight has yet to occur; and, - that there was no "justiciable controversy" at this point with the fight. The decision comes after senatorial aspirant and former Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello and Atty. Rene Saguisag asked the poll body to clarify whether the Pacquiao-Bradley fight violates Comelec campaign rules on broadcast limits. Bello and Saguisag assert that the publicity that Pacquiao's fight is sure to generate will be a great disadvantage to other senatorial candidates. The poll body, however, said that as a quasi-judicial body, they do not rule on "hypothetical" or "contingent" possibilities, as the fight has not happened yet. "We do not give hypothetical opinions, we do not give advisory opinions as a quasi-judicial body," Bautista said, adding that candidates who feel aggrieved should file formal complaints instead. "We will act on it if and when a formal complaint is filed," the poll chief said. Bautista said they are also not likely to impose limitations on the broadcast of the Pacquiao- Bradley fight, unlike in 2007, when the poll body disallowed the airing of several documentaries and pre-game programs of the Pacquiao-Jorge Solis bout in Sarangani province. This was because during that time, Pacquiao was running for congressman in General Santos City.

2016-03-29 18:54 Pia Gutierrez news.abs-cbn.com

80 Gabriela pickets SC, urges junking of K-12 MANILA - Women's advocacy group Gabriela staged a picket at the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday to call for the junking of government's K-12 new basic education program. The group said they want the high court to know that parents continue to keep watch on the issue despite the denial of the plea for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stay the implementation of the program. Gabriela said the K-12 program will be a burden to parents and will put in peril the tenure of teaching and non-teaching personnel. Petitioners against the program include the Council for Teachers and Staff of Colleges and Universities of the Philippines, et al.; Senator Antonio Trillanes IV; Eduardo R. Alicias; Richard Troy A. Colmenares; Representative Antonio Tinio, et al.; and Ma. Dolores Brillantes. The petitions against Republic Act (RA) No. 10533, also known as An Act Enhancing the Philippine Basic Education System, are urging the high court to thumb down the program, arguing that it was passed "without massive consultations;" makes education "inaccessible" to all, especially to lower-income Filipinos; and causes the displacement of tens of thousands of teaching and non-teaching personnel.

2016-03-29 18:54 Ina Reformina news.abs-cbn.com

81 Pentagon orders military families out of Turkey Washington (CNN) The U. S. military has ordered military family members to evacuate southern Turkey, primarily from Incirlik Air Base, due to security concerns, the Pentagon said Tuesday. CNN's Greg Botelho and Nicole Gaouette contributed to this report.

2016-03-29 20:15 Barbara Starr rss.cnn.com

82 Court extends detention of IDF soldier suspected of murdering Palestinian attacker The IDF Military Court in Kastina on Tuesday only granted a two-day extension of detention to an IDF soldier suspected of murdering a Palestinian terrorist, rejecting prosecution request for nine days. The soldier's defense lawyers declared the move a sign that Lt.-Col. Judge Ronen Shor does not view the evidence in the case as obviously one- sided. On the other hand, the ruling could just indicate that Shor believes the prosecution does not need further time to investigate the incident that occurred on Thursday in Hebron and has plenty of evidence already against the soldier. Earlier on Tuesday, IDF Prosecutor Lt. Col. Edoram Rigler said that there was no military need for the Hebron shooter, suspected of murder, to kill the Palestinian in an unusual hearing in Kastina near Ashdod. The prosecution asked for nine additional days of pre-indictment detention to continue its investigation, though it could ask to continue to detain him longer once it files an indictment. A media circus has surrounded the incident with details leaked from both sides of the investigation day after day to alternately confirm a narrative in which the killing was a cold- blooded murder or a less serious negligent homicide with elements of self-defense from danger posed by the Palestinian who had been involved in a terror attack before being shot and immobilized by security forces. The Palestinian and an accomplice had attacked another soldier with knives, and then was wounded. He is seen on a video, which immediately went viral, lying on the ground motionless for an extended period until the accused soldier, who arrived after the attack, suddenly, and seemingly without cause, shoots the Palestinian dead, causing blood to pour out of his head. Originally, the case was to be heard in the Jaffa Military Court, but it was moved to Kastina to try to reduce the media coverage and number of protesters. The picture appeared grim for the soldier on Tuesday as the prosecution deemed the shooting a "grave offense," terminology usually reserved for murder or manslaughter and not mere negligent homicide - a mistaken killing violating the rules of engagement, but without murderous intent. The prosecutor said investigations carried out until now raise doubts about the suspect's account of events, and his claim that soldiers' lives were in danger are in doubt. Doubts exist due to the soldier's conduct during the incident, his statements, and motives, all cast doubt on his claim to acting in self defense. Reports have surfaced that the soldier was not an early responder and that by the time he arrived to the scene, the Palestinian had already been checked for the possibility of having explosives attached to himself, and that this had been ruled out. The same reports indicate that the shooter told other IDF personnel before and after that the Palestinian should be killed in light of his being a terrorist and other issues not related to self- defense. The prosecutor noted that even the shooter himself did not act with any immediacy or desperation when he shot the Palestinian that indicated he felt in danger. On the soldier's side, his lawyer has argued that the autopsy of the Palestinian could be a boon for his client’s defense. Defense lawyer Ilan Katz argued that the autopsy of the terrorist could save the soldier from both murder and manslaughter charges if it shows that he was already fatally wounded and would have died from his earlier wounds. In that case, he might only face charges for negligent homicide or for violating the rules of engagement. Conversely, if the autopsy shows that the Palestinian was not already fatally wounded, Katz will argue that he was not as badly hurt as the video seems to imply, and that the additional shooting was necessary to neutralize him as a threat. The prosecution is expected to oppose these arguments, arguing that the Palestinian was alive when shot and that the soldier had murderous intent regardless of the extent of his prior wounds. Whatever happens with the autopsy, the movement of Katz to this line of argument from the original self-defense argument could indicate that the soldier and his lawyers have realized a self-defense assertion may not hold up in court. Yet another support reported for the self-defense idea is a Magen David Adom report that there were suspicions of an explosive vest being used in the area. But it is unclear if this report will only help MDA explain why it did not attend to the Palestinian, or will also help the shooter. Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.

2016-03-29 20:14 YONAH JEREMY www.jpost.com

83 Library of Congress cancels ‘illegal aliens’ subject heading HANOVER, N. H. (AP) - The Library of Congress is no longer using the heading “illegal aliens” in bibliographic records, thanks to a request from Dartmouth College students. Working with library staff at the Ivy League school, members of a Dartmouth coalition for immigration reform petitioned the Library of Congress in 2014 to replace the subject heading with a more accurate and less offensive term. Officials concluded that the meaning of “aliens” is often misunderstood and should be replaced with “noncitizens,” and that the phrase “illegal aliens” has become pejorative. The heading “illegal aliens” is being replaced by “noncitizens” and “unauthorized immigration.” The Library of Congress subject headings index is used by libraries around the world.

2016-03-29 20:13 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

84 Turkey sees drop in foreign visitors after attacks ANKARA, Turkey — The number of tourists visiting Turkey dropped by 10 percent in February compared to last year, in a worrying sign for the country whose economy relies on tourism revenues.

2016-03-29 20:10 Associated Press newsinfo.inquirer.net

85 Good explanation of the new law passed during NC General Assembly’s special session Here’s what the New York Times, Huffington Post and other media outlets aren’t telling you about the common-sense privacy law we (Governor Pat McCrory) signed this week. 1. Does the new bill limit or prohibit private sector companies from adopting their own nondiscrimination policies or practices? This message reflects the opinions and representations of The Pat McCrory Committee. You are receiving this email because you signed up as a member of The Pat McCrory Committee’s online community. Click here to unsubscribe from The Pat McCrory Committee. If you are a registered lobbyist in North Carolina, please disregard any solicitation for a donation. Contributions from North Carolina registered lobbyists are prohibited.

2016-03-29 19:09 www.thetribunepapers.com

86 High-speed train from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv to be completed by 2018 The highly anticipated high-speed train under construction that will connect Jerusalem to Tel Aviv in under 30 minutes will be completed in 2018, the head of Israel Railways announced on Monday. During a tour with members of Knesset at a construction site for the NIS 1.82 billion project, Boaz Tzafrir, CEO of the railway, said the train will take passengers from Jerusalem’s International Convention Center to Tel Aviv’s Haganah Station in 28 minutes flat. Tzafrir added that up to four trains per hour traveling at 99 miles per hour will be operational in both directions during rush hour, with intermediary stops at Ben-Gurion International Airport, JNS reported. The train, which will traverse eight bridges and six tunnels, will cut travel time by 45 minutes compared to the current train service available from the capital to Tel Aviv. According to Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, plans are already underway to add routes “from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Eilat in the south,” with a stop in the Old City. A subterranean, multi-story station at the entrance of Jerusalem featuring four 300-meter platforms accessible by elevators and escalators, will extend from the ICC to the Central Bus Station across the street, the ministry said. Moreover, the high-speed train, being completed with the help of nearly 700 engineers, will eventually have stops in Modiin and Latrun, Katz said. Although the train was supposed to be completed by next year, several hurdles – including budget overhauls requiring additional government investment and environmental concerns – led to the delay.

2016-03-29 20:06 DANIEL K www.jpost.com

87 Indonesia says 10 citizens held hostage after ship hijacked JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia said Tuesday that 10 of its citizens are being held hostage in the Philippines after their ship was hijacked in the often- insecure border region between the two countries.

2016-03-29 20:06 Associated Press globalnation.inquirer.net

88 Warmer weather means insect hatching earlier in Illinois PEKIN, Ill. (AP) - Farmers are seeing more insects than normal for this time of year because of warmer weather. The Pekin Daily Times reports (http://bit.ly/1UTqOi8 ) that the early hatch of insects could be welcome news for agriculture because there will be less for insects to eat. Tazewell County Farm Bureau Manager Doug Godke says the early hatch could mean insects die off without enough food. Certain types of beetles can eat foliage on soybeans and the silk on corn plants resulting in poor harvests. Godke says most farmers are planting insect-resistant crops, which also helps keep insect populations in check. ___ Information from: Pekin Daily Times, http://www.pekintimes.com 2016-03-29 20:04 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

89 RSS doesn't serve for publicity: Mohan Bhagwat Lucknow: The RSS does not do service for publicity, its chief Mohan Bhagwat said today. "We do not do publicity. We don't do service for publicity," Bhagwat said at an event in Lucknow. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat He said 'sensitivity' towards the society was at the core of RSS' service, which it continue to render "as long as there in sorrow in the society". Bhagwat said a Swayamsewak (volunteer) of the Sangh is free from self-interest and there is no "motive" behind the service he renders. He also referred to wide network of RSS and the work being done by the outfit in different states. Meanwhile, Shaista Amber, President of the All India Muslim Women's Personal Law Board, after a meeting with the RSS chief said 'unnecessary misconception' was being spread about the Hindu right wing organisation and claimed it does not speak only about 'Hindutva or Hindu Rashtra'. "I am of the belief that RSS does not speak only about Hindutva. I don't feel that the Sangh only talks about Hindutva or Hindu Rashtra," She said, adding due to several "misleading" things about the outfit's "negative attitude" towards Muslims, she doubted whether Bhagwat would meet her.

2016-03-29 20:03 By PTI www.mid-day.com

90 “My Springsteen sin” apology rings hollow: Wheelchair scam to score concert tickets isn’t funny — and this “confession” does even more harm Topics: Bruce Springsteen , Billboard , accessibility , Disability , Entertainment News In early March, my husband and I attended a Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band show in St. Louis at the Chaifetz Arena. We were lucky to be there: Tickets to the show, which took place in the smallest arena of his current tour celebrating 1980’s “The River” album , sold out in roughly a day. Thanks to some good Ticketmaster mojo, I snagged a pair of the least-expensive seats— grabbing whatever I could before the online crunch overloaded the system—and we flew there for the weekend to see old friends and other Springsteen pals from near and far. When we got to the venue and saw our seats, however, we found out they were in the top row of the second tier of the arena. That normally wouldn’t be a problem—except for the fact that due to my disability (cerebral palsy), my balance is unsteady, a condition exacerbated by heights. Thankfully, big venues account for situations where patrons have trouble reaching seats, and provide seats on level platforms where stairs aren’t required. By the time we arrived at the Chaifetz Arena, however, all but one of these seats was occupied, meaning the options were to either gingerly climb up to the rafters or sit by myself for three hours while my husband took our seats. It took the above-and-beyond efforts of a staffer named Nicole to be able to figure out a solution, namely a second chair for my husband behind the lone available platform seat. (The show, it goes without saying, was great.) Whenever I encounter a venue where accessibility might be a concern, the scenario described above is always a potential outcome. So imagine how incensed I was to read a Billboard piece, “My Springsteen Sin: A Public Apology,” centered around writer Mitch Myers recounting the time he pretended to have a disability to get into a summer 1984 E Street Band show. The stunt was the brainchild of Myers’ college buddy, who worked at a rehab center and stole (rather, “connived to garner”) tickets meant for staff and patients for his own personal use. To use them, however, Myers needed to use a wheelchair while at the show, despite not needing one. To make a long story short, he didn’t enjoy the concert—in fact, he’s overcome with guilt and shame during the show, ditches the chair in the van, and re-enters the venue without it—although he stays to the bitter end of the encore anyway. Throughout the article, Myers is contrite and apologetic, blaming “a lot of peer pressure” and assuring “I just didn’t know any better, even though I should have.” Although he’s clearly relieved to get this incident off his chest, from a journalistic standpoint, it’s difficult to figure out why this piece was published. It didn’t relate the incident to the broader conversation of accessibility at music venues , for example, or tie it to any modern ticketing concerns. For example, the least-expensive seats at an arena show are frequently in the most inaccessible areas for those who have disabilities, and not every ticketing platform gives patrons the options to buy accessible seats online. It also didn’t explore any parallels to the abuse of services meant for those with disabilities—from the preponderance of fake service dogs to people fraudulently using accessible parking placards —and how that affects those who legitimately need this assistance. And readers never learn how Myers changed or what tangible lessons he learned, and whether this experience made him more aware of or sensitive to disability issues going forward. In fact, the piece made him seem unlikeable and unsympathetic, even though the incident happened well over 30 years ago. Perhaps this is because the tone of the piece is shockingly antiquated in how it perceives and describes people with disabilities. The writing perpetuates the negative stereotype that using a wheelchair is some sort of alienating, shameful prison, something about which to be embarrassed. Myers receives “looks of pity, kindness, sympathy and curiosity” while on the way to his seat, for starters, which reminded him “of those sensitivity training exercises where you’d take on a challenging, unfamiliar, perhaps stigmatized role— like using a wheelchair —to help one empathize with people whose lives had left them no choice in the matter.” (Italics from the original story.)

2016-03-29 22:22 Annie Zaleski salon.com.feedsportal.com

91 Deonar dumping ground fire: Mumbai top cop assures help to BMC chief The Commissioner of Police D D Padsalgikar on Tuesday gave an assurance to Municipal Commissioner Ajoy Mehta that all necessary help in the case of Deonar dumping ground will be extended by the Mumbai police. The meeting comes on the backdrop of a fire at the dumping ground earlier this month. The BMC suspects sabotage in the matter and an FIR has also been filed against unknown persons. The BMC has been facing flak for the repeated fires breaking out at Deonar dumping ground. Mehta had recently announced a slew of measures to be taken to contain the fire and prevent a recurrence. One of them was declaring the ground as a 'prohibited area'. Besides, night vision cameras will be installed and security will be stepped up there. On this backdrop, the meeting happened in the CP's office on Tuesday. The BMC expects help from the police to control access to the ground, as well as joint inspection and protection to the security wall.

2016-03-29 20:00 By Tanvi www.mid-day.com

92 Pet insurance claims hit record number

The number of UK pet owners claiming on insurance policies has reached a new record, with 911,000 claims being made in 2015. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) said the number of claims rose by 9% compared with the previous year. Among the claims being made was one for a python which needed treatment for anorexia. A dog needed surgery after swallowing a kebab stick, while another was treated for swallowing a sock. In total, pet insurers dealt with 686,000 claims for dogs - an 11% increase on 2014 - and 193,000 claims for cats - a 6% rise. However, most of Britain's nine million dog owners and 7.9 million cat owners do not pay for insurance cover.

2016-03-29 12:50 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

93 Watch: Belgians protect Israeli flag at memorial for Brussels attacks In the wake of last week’s terror attack in Brussels, Belgians transformed a central square in the capital into an impromptu memorial for the victims. Thirty-five people died last Tuesday in a series of suicide bombings at the city’s main airport and a subway station. Starting the next day, people gathered in Place de La Bourse and lit candles amid spontaneous singing and guitar playing of French-language songs about peace, along with some Beatles hits for good measure. Locals and foreigners filled part of the square with candles and flags from dozens of countries. Amid the display of national and international unity, a few people went out of their way to exclude Israel. In at least three incidents captured on video last week, people speaking Arabic or wearing Muslim garb destroyed, removed or covered up Israeli flags at Place de la Bourse. ENFIN UNE RÉACTION: Bruxelles 27.3.2016, lieu de recueillement. Un musulman crie :"Palestine, Palestine,... " il est hué par la foule. Il tente ensuite d'enlever un drapeau israélien. La foule réagit en lui demandant de remettre le drapeau et en disant "c'est honteux, c'est honteux". Posted by Wikisrael on Monday, March 28, 2016 In an incident Sunday around noon, locals intervened. A crowd confronted a man who, after praying in Arabic, shouted “Palestine” and anti-Israel slogans — calling Israel a “terrorist state.” The incident was caught on video. The white-haired man, wearing a head covering favored by North African Muslims, stepped on other flags and candles in an effort to reach an Israeli flag located near the center of the memorial site. Dozens of Belgians began booing him. Several shouted in Flemish and French: “Shameful!” Others shouted in French: “Everyone!” in a call for others to join the booing. When the man grabbed the Israeli flag, another man shoved him to the ground and wrestled it from his hands amid applause from onlookers. Two police officers made their way to the scene, and after a short exchange, escorted the shouting man away from the memorial. When the man again shouted in Arabic, one of the officers shoved him. It was not the first time mourners at Place de La Bourse intervened to stop attempts to remove Israeli flags. In another incident after the bombing, two Arabic-speaking men who covered an Israeli flag with a Palestinian flag were confronted by a third man who was filmed saying in French: “This is an apolitical place, don’t do this.” Gil Taieb, a vice president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, said that even bloodless insults against symbols must not be tolerated at a time when the West is grappling with killers who are waging a war of symbols. “After each attack, we are shocked by the horror and cry for victims of all confessions,” he wrote in an Op-Ed published Sunday on the news website Le Monde Juif.info about the incidents at Place de la Bourse. “Each time, we hope and wait for a uniform line – the only rampart against barbarism.” But anti-Israel actions like those in Brussels crack the unity Europe finds after terror attacks, he added, recalling the January 2015 slaying in Paris of 17 people at the Charlie Hebdo weekly, including several Jews and police officers, and the Hyper Cacher kosher market. Those attacks prompted millions to march under the banner “I am Charlie” and “I’m a police officer.” Anti-Semitic anti-Zionists, Taieb wrote, “remind us they do not consider us to be like the rest, and that whether we are in Paris, Tunisia, Bamako, Brussels, whether we are Charlie or police officers, we will forever be but Jews and Israel to them.” While disturbing to many, the drama around the Israeli flags pales in comparison to violence that broke out at Place de la Bourse on Sunday, when police dispersed a group of black-clad men who had mounted the steps of the stock exchange in the square and started chanting slogans against the Islamic State. Some members of the group were seen making Nazi salutes, confronting ethnic minorities and throwing flares.

2016-03-29 19:56 www.jpost.com

94 Affirmative action for immigrants in civil service moves forward Government offices will have to implement affirmative action for recent immigrants and the ultra- orthodox in their hiring practices, if a bill authorized Tuesday for a first reading in the Knesset Law, Constitution and Justice Committee becomes law. The amendment to the Civil Service Law, proposed by United Torah Judaism MKs Moshe Gafni and Uri Maklev, originally only required “appropriate representation” for haredim in the civil service and on the boards of government companies, but new olim were added at Immigration and Absorption Minister Ze’ev Elkin’s insistence. Currently, the law requires representation of women, Arabs, Druse, Circassians, disabled people and people who have at least one parent born in Ethiopia. Elkin called the addition a “historic victory,” saying new immigrants are underrepresented in the civil service. “For over a decade, many MKs tried to pass laws in this matter and were blocked over and over again by government bureaucracy,” he stated. “Immigrants now have affirmative action like other minorities. The moment this law passes, doors will be opened to new immigrants and allow them to integrate in the civil service and the boards of government companies.” Government Companies’ Authority and Civil Service Authority representatives at the committee meeting said that adding more criteria for choosing board members or hiring workers adds too many difficulties. MK Gafni responded that the GCA is “racist” because not one of the 500 board members is haredi. “I suggest that you erase the requirement to hire women and Arabs so there is less bureaucracy. When I hear your arguments, I feel like it’s Purim all year long,” Gafni remarked. An Immigration Absorption Ministry representative pointed out that new immigrants have to start their lives over and have trouble passing the tests to join the civil service, as they are different from others around the world. The Knesset Research and Information Center found that in June 2014, 11,599 immigrants were employed by the state, making up 16 percent of civil servants. The rate of immigrants not from Ethiopia who are employed in the Civil Service is 14.7%, whereas their percentage of the population is 12%. The research also found that the most popular area of government employments for immigrants is health services, and more may be on the way, after the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee approved the final regulations to exempt immigrant dentists with at least five years of experience abroad from taking certification exams after making Aliya. The exemption includes written and practical exams. Immigrant dentists who already failed the tests will only have to repeat the practical exam. The regulations follow a law passed in January to exempt experienced dentists from exams; they add the details of the exemption. Committee chairman Eli Alalouf said the measure will bring home Jews and Israelis who learned abroad, and will benefit Israelis’ health. Elkin said “there is no logical reason that a dentist that learned in the best schools in France or in the US, worked and gained experienced will have to go through exhausting and difficult bureaucracy in order to be licensed to work. “I have no doubt that the move, which we fought for for years, will allow many Jewish dentists in the world to decide to make Aliya,” Elkin added, vowing to fight bureaucracy that makes immigration difficult. Health Ministry Deputy Director-General Arnon Afek said the bill opens “a great opportunity to promote the world of medicine in Israel, achieve excellence and absorb immigrants. For years, the Health Ministry was conservative and uncompromising, but the time has come to find a solution.” Nearly 16,000 doctors moved to Israel in the last three years, and like most immigrants, they face language barriers, which make it very difficult for them to pass certification tests that are available only in Hebrew. As a result, 68 percent of immigrant doctors do not pass the test the first time. Until this year, there was no legal way to exempt any dentists who make aliya from the exam, which even dentists with decades of experience often fail. In recent months, the problem gained attention via immigrants from France – the country with the highest aliya rate in the past two years, with 7,900 immigrating in 2015. After failing the practical exam twice, Dr. David Tibi, a successful dentist and expert in transplants with 25 years of experience who made aliya, wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which went viral, calling for his certification to be recognized, or he will have to move back to France to make a living. Tibi attended the meeting, and vowed that the level of dentistry in France is very high, and that Israeli dentists often go to France to take courses. Doron Dinai, representing the Dentists’ Union, argued that most immigrant dentists come from third-world countries. MK Oren Hazan (Likud) said the law will make things difficult for dentists and dentistry students already living in Israel. “I will fight to make sure there are equal benefits for Israeli students who study here,” he stated.

2016-03-29 19:55 LAHAV HARKOV www.jpost.com

95 Coroner says Belton baby’s death at day care an accident BELTON, S. C. (AP) - A coroner says a baby’s death at an Anderson County day care was accidental, but likely could have been prevented if the infant had been placed on his back to sleep. Deputy Coroner Don McCown told the Anderson Independent-Mail (http://bit.ly/1UZGikC ) on Monday that the death of 3-month-old Tate William Kirby of Belton should serve as a reminder to never place infants that young on their sides or stomachs to take naps. In-home day care operator Stacy Hinnant Burton says she found Kirby unresponsive in his crib Friday. McCown says the baby, who had been swaddled and laid on his side, fell over and had his face against a plastic-covered mattress, causing the infant to asphyxiate. Burton’s day care remains closed, pending an investigation. Burton hasn’t been charged. ___ Information from: Anderson Independent-Mail, http://www.andersonsc.com

2016-03-29 19:54 - Associated Press - Tuesday, March 29, 2016 www.washingtontimes.com

96 Let’s all laugh at Ann Coulter: She’s slamming Trump now, but right-wing loudmouth proudly defended his demented ideas Topics: Video , Elections 2016 , Election 2016 , Ann Coulter , Donald Trump , Elections News , Entertainment News , News , Politics News Ann Coulter is inarguably Donald Trump’s most vocal backer, calling him the only hope for “the last genuinely Christian country on earth.” But after the billionaire bloviator took a not-so-veiled swipe at the looks of rival Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi, Coulter has suddenly called foul, publicly chiding her candidate for behaving like a “mental” 16-year-old. “Trump is different,” Coulter told WMAL back in July, lavishing praise on the former reality TV star. “We have been lied to for 30 years about immigration. That’s why Trump is striking this chord. He’s attractive. He’s tall. He’s hilariously funny. I think he could be not only a nominee who could win but a third party candidate who would win.” But on Monday, the conservative firebrand admitted that even she had grown tired of Trump’s “half-baked tweets at midnight,” begging Trump to “please stop testing our patience.” Unaware that the right-wing shock jock maintained any bar of decorum in political discourse, Salon looked back at a few of Trump’s other controversial past statements that Coulter has defended: Most Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug dealers: Trump “won me over with that Mexican rapist speech,” Coulter revealed earlier this year, referring to Trump’s announcement speech last June and admitting that, “I didn’t know much about him until” then: Megyn Kelly feud: Coulter applauded Trump’s decision to boycott the second Fox News debate after network star and first debate moderator Megyn Kelly directed the first question of the cycle to Trump on his history of misogynistic comments. Trump has established himself as the “real alpha dog,” Coulter wrote in a January column praising her preferred candidate. “Monopolies can get arrogant and there does seem to be a little bit of arrogance here,” she said of Fox News’ handling of the news that Trump had withdrawn from their debate in Iowa. “It’s not just that it’s smart alecky in how it treats Trump. It’s really insulting to voters.” Coulter called out the conservative cable news giant for what she called its pro-amnesty and pro- open borders stance resulting in its anchors holding an anti-Trump bias:

2016-03-29 22:22 Sophia Tesfaye salon.com.feedsportal.com

97 Waterways transport on Mithi river mooted Maharashtra government will send a proposal to start water transport on Mithi river to the National Inland Waterways Authority, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in Mumbai on Tuesday. Mithi River "A proposal will be sent to the Inland Waterways Authority," Fadnavis said, replying to a query by Ashish Shelar (BJP) in the Lower House. Shelar said Rs 1,000 crore are being made available for waterways transport in 111 rivers in the country. He demanded that the Mithi river, which gained prominence during the July 26, 2005 deluge, should be included in the list.

2016-03-29 19:53 By PTI www.mid-day.com

98 New York Uber Drivers Protest Rate Cuts - In Photos: The Rideshare Uprising Around The World Uber drivers protest the company's fare cuts and go on strike in front of the car service's New York offices on February 1, 2016. The drivers said Uber continued to cut into their earnings without cutting into its own take from each ride. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

2016-03-29 20:05 Brian Solomon www.forbes.com

99 Hillary Clinton aide: Bernie Sanders' demand a 'public stunt' (CNN) A spokesperson for Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that Bernie Sanders' proposal for an additional Democratic debate before the New York primary is a "public stunt," and admonished the Vermont senator for running an increasingly negative campaign. "You should be willing to debate anytime, anywhere. " — @HillaryClinton in 2008. https://t.co/UruLT1afY3

2016-03-29 19:51 David Wright rss.cnn.com

100 Warning over 'nasty' ransomware strain The FBI is seeking help from US firms as it investigates a nasty strain of ransomware, Reuters reports. Ransomware encrypts data on infected machines and then asks for money before restoring access to information. The FBI is analysing a strain of ransomware called MSIL/Samas that tries to encrypt data across entire networks rather than single computers. The plea comes as security firms warn about other novel strains of the fast-growing, data- scrambling cyber-threats. The FBI sent out the request for help after discovering that the group behind MSIL/Samas had stepped up its efforts to find victims. In the confidential advisory obtained by Reuters, the FBI said the group used a publicly available security program called Jexboss to scan networks looking for vulnerable versions of the widely used JBoss software. When a vulnerable system is found, the malware launches an attack that seeks to scramble data on servers. It also finds and deletes the back-up files firms could use to restore data scrambled by ransomware. Cisco said it had seen a "widespread campaign" using Samas targeting firms involved in healthcare. Early versions of the malware charged a ransom of one bitcoin (£300) for every machine hit but later versions upped this to 1.5 bitcoins. "It is likely the malware author is trying to see how much people will pay for their files," wrote Cisco security analyst Nick Biasini in an advisory. "They even added an option for bulk decryption of 22 bitcoin (£6,600) to decrypt all infected systems. " The FBI's request for aid comes as security firms warn about recently created ransomware variants that use different methods to lock up systems and force victims to pay. The Petya malware targets a key Windows system file called the Master Boot Record that helps a PC get started. By overwriting this file, people are prevented from getting at any data on their PC unless they pay up. Trend Micro said it had seen Petya distributed in email messages crafted to look like they are from someone looking for work. The CV attached to the message is a booby-trapped program that launches Petya, said Trend security engineer Jasen Sumalapao in a blogpost. Petya charges a ransom of 0.9 bitcoins (£265) to unlock infected machines. Security firm Carbon Black has found another novel strain that goes after many firms that use Windows PowerShell - a scripting program widely used to administer machines running Windows. Dubbed PowerWare, this strain hides malicious code in Word documents and calls on PowerShell to execute the attack code when the booby-trapped files are opened. "Deceptively simple in code, 'PowerWare' is a novel approach to ransomware, reflecting a growing trend of malware authors thinking outside the box in delivering ransomware," said Rico Valdez from Carbon Black .

2016-03-29 18:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-03-30 00:01