It's a life-changing experience that every enlisted service member will go through. Go behind the scenes of @USAirForce basic training and @USNavy boot camp and see how we train some of the best in the world. #KnowYourMilpic.twitter.com/0o2Fqykmus
They are a low-cost addition to ships' layered defenses used to counter anti-ship missiles and the Royal Navy want to invest in improved models.
The U.S. Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyers have a comprehensive suite of defenses to shield against anti-ship missiles, including chaff canisters, active decoys that generate confusing electromagnetic signatures, electronic warfare suites, and "hard kill" close-in weapon systems. But they also have the ability to launch passive radar-reflecting decoys that inflate like a huge, oddly-shaped beach ball to entice incoming missiles, a system that came by way of the United Kingdom. Now, the U.K. Royal Navy, which was first to adopt these decoys, is looking to buy an improved design as it looks to expand its global reach.
* The B61-12 is the latest upgrade to the B61 serious of nuclear gravity bombs. * The Air Force and the Department of Energy tested the new version twice last year, dropping them over Nevada.
Last year, the US Air Force and the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) carried out two non-nuclear system qualification flight tests of the B61-12 gravity bomb.
The tests, completed on June 9, 2018, at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, were part of the B61-12 represent the latest LEP (Life-Extention Program) upgrade to the B61 line of nuclear weapons that has already been extensively tested with the F-15E Strike Eagles (in 2015) and F-16 of the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron (in 2017).
* Plans to be revealed at 7am today will set out how the Government will manage Irish border in no-deal * They will also outline which imports would be taxed after March 29, when Britain could crash out of the EU * The Commons will vote on a no-deal exit tonight and could vote tomorrow on an Article 50 extension * Theresa May's withdrawal agreement was defeated by 391 to 242 despite claims of 'legally binding changes' * Jeremy Corbyn led all but three Labour MPs into the No lobby as Opposition MPs ranked up against May * Fatal blow came after Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said his legal advice was unchanged over backstop
Ministers will today reveal the secret tariffs and Irish border plans which would come into force in a no-deal Brexit, as MPs prepare to vote on the prospect tonight after once again rejecting Theresa May's withdrawal deal.
The plans, due to be revealed at 7am, will also set out the sensitive details of how the Government would manage the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic - the issue which has left Mrs May's plans in ruins.
They will also reveal which imports would be taxed after March 29, the date when Britain will crash out of the EU unless a deal is agreed or Parliament votes to extend Article 50.
Insiders say the tariffs could put tens of thousands of jobs at risk. And critics say publication of both could weeaken Britain's positions in any further negotiations.
An American diplomat tells the inside story of Yeltsin, Putin, and opportunities lost.
The old Caucasus spa town of Kislovodsk was in terminal decline, much like the Soviet Union itself. It was late April 1991, and Secretary of State James Baker and those of us in his bone-tired delegation had just arrived from Damascus. We stumbled around in the evening gloom to find our rooms in the official guesthouse, long past its glory days as a haven for the Communist Party elite. My room was lit by a single overhead bulb. The handle on the toilet came off when I tried to flush it, and what trickled out of the faucet had the same sulfurous smell and reddish tint as the mineral waters for which the town was famous.
I walked down to Baker's suite to deliver a briefing memo for his meeting the next day with the Soviet foreign minister. The suite was bigger and better lit, with similarly understated decor. Baker smiled wearily and glanced at the paper I handed him. It was covered with notes on all the issues before us: Germany's peaceful reunification in the fall of 1990, the military triumph over Saddam Hussein little more than a month earlier, the increasingly precarious future of the Soviet Union.
WNU Editor: A good summary on how things went south between the U.S. and Russia from a U.S. diplomat who was there at the time. But there are some points that I disagree with. The first one is the author's remarks on what he sees is a naive Trump trying to forge a cozy relationship with Putin. I do not know he how he came to that conclusion. President Trump has imposed sanctions that one needs to go back to the Reagan era to match in terms of harsh impact. Ditto to starting a massive military buildup, as well as ending the INF Treaty. Bottom line .... President Trump is no friend of Russian President Putin. As for Putin's relationship with Hillary Clinton. William Burns omits a few important points, the two big ones being Hillary Clinton's interference in the 2011 Russian Parliamentary elections and (the real big one) comparing Putin to Hitler .... Are The DNC Email Leaks Russian President Putin's Revenge Against Hillary Clinton For Comparing Him To Hitler 2 Years Ago? (July 26, 2016). As I had mentioned in that post, comparing a Russian to Hitler is for Russians an unforgivable act, and in this case she became in Putin's eyes an enemy for life. As for Hillary Clinton's interference in the post 2011 Russian parliamentary election, as I had commented at the time in this blog, it only helped Putin. When foreigners criticize a Russian leader, Russians will always circle their wagons, which they did by electing Putin as President in 2012. So why did Hillary Clinton decide to wade into a Russian election politics .... your guess is as good as mine. The author's analysis on Ukraine and its impact on U.S. - Russian relations was also disappointing. No mention on the billions that were spent by the U.S. on influencing the politics in that country .... Senior U.S. Diplomat Admits That The U.S. Has Spent $5 Billion To Influence The Ukrainian Government (February 27, 2014), nor the sectarian tensions that were ignited in that country when Ukrainian nationalists implemented policies that targeted the country's Russian minority resulting in a war that is still ongoing.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu took part in the extended meeting of the #Defense Committee. The Minister informed MPs that the Russian army is fully equipped with modern weapon and equipment, and all military units are part of the constant combat readiness. pic.twitter.com/fU5R2ERWfl
The Russian military has significantly expanded and upgraded its weapons systems in the past six years, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told lawmakers on Monday.
The country's military achievements between 2012 and 2018 have turned Russia's military into a mobile force capable of projecting influence abroad, The Associated Press quoted the minister as saying at a meeting of the State Duma's Defense Committee.
* An IS recording calls for revenge in Europe for the 'holocaust' they are suffering * Syrian Democratic Forces have helped thousands of women and children to flee * Shelling on Baghouz, eastern Syria, resumed Sunday as no one else tried to leave * But the SDF say they have evacuated a further 2,000 capitulating jihadists today
Some 2,000 people - mainly ISIS militants - have surrendered to US-backed forces closing in around their last enclave after the terror group complained they were being subjected to a 'holocaust.'
A purported IS audio recording online called for revenge across the globe as the last desperate fighters declared they were the victims at Baghouz, in eastern Syria.
The Syrian Democratic Forces made painstaking efforts to permit the surrender of thousands before finding no more were forthcoming as they resumed bombardments on Sunday.
Today SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said the latest massive group were being transferred to neutral ground for screening.
A $743 billion annual military budget is a lot of money. Characterizing it as lacking in any way understandably raises eyebrows. But bipartisan agreement about what the Pentagon minimally needs for the year ahead should signal that President Donald Trump's latest budget merely keeps the military treading water.
Even as Trump touts his support of the armed forces, his defense budget does little more than continue readiness repairs. For the third year in a row, the White House request does not rebuild the military or robustly provide the resources to execute the defense strategy.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks after the results of the vote on Brexit deal in Parliament in London, Britain, March 12, 2019. UK Parliament/Mark Duffy/Handout via REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters) - MPs crushed Prime Minister Theresa May's European Union divorce deal on Tuesday, thrusting Britain deeper into crisis and forcing parliament to decide within days whether to back a no-deal Brexit or seek a last-minute delay.
MPs voted against May's amended Brexit deal by 391 to 242 as her last-minute talks with EU chiefs on Monday to assuage her critics' concerns ultimately proved fruitless.
The vote puts the world's fifth largest economy in uncharted territory with no obvious way forward; exiting the EU without a deal, delaying the March 29 divorce date, a snap election or even another referendum are all now possible.
Undated Handout picture of U.S., Taliban and Qatar officials during a meeting for peace talks in Doha, Qatar. Qatari Foreign Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
The longest round of peace talks between the United States and the Taliban has ended with "real strides" being made but without an agreement on troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said on March 12.
"The conditions for peace have improved. It's clear all sides want to end the war. Despite ups and downs, we kept things on track and made real strides," Khalilzad said on Twitter, adding that another round is possible later this month after the 16 days of negotiations in Qatar's capital, Doha.
In a conflict, Russia would likely hit the Baltic States first, but war between Russia and NATO would involve attacks on Western Europe, says a new report.
WASHINGTON — In 2019 Russia will likely try to influence the European Parliament elections, continue intelligence and influence operations against the West, and keep preparing for armed conflict with NATO, according to the latest annual threat assessment by the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service.
NBC News obtained an exclusive preview of the 70-page report, which provides a window into the activity and goals of the Russian intelligence services from next door in Estonia.
Russia will target the European parliamentary elections in May, the report says, with a likely focus on the larger member states — Germany, France and Italy — where it can hope to have the most influence on the composition of the E.U. Parliament, whose members are elected for five-year terms.
The Trump administration is threatening to withhold intelligence from Germany if the country does not drop a potential contract with Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei.
The Wall Street Journal obtained a letter dated Friday from U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell to Germany's economics minister saying that intelligence sharing would be limited if Huawei or other Chinese vendors are allowed to participate in building Germany's 5G network.
The U.S. has been urging allies to drop Huawei for months. Intelligence officials have expressed concerns that the telecommunications giant is spying on behalf of the Chinese government.
Vladimir Putin's Limousine took a turn at the Geneva Motor Show for its European debut.
The Aurus Senat L700 entered the limelight when it delivered the Russian president to his inauguration last year.
Denis Manturov, Russian minister of Industry and Trade, said the president gave feedback to the designers.
He requested "some very light amendments about, I would say, the hydraulic system of the car because we made it first quite soft, he asked to make some amendments to make it more, I would say stronger, maybe more brutal," Manturov told reporters.
The car was designed as part of the Cortege project, implemented by NAMI (Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engines Institute) in Moscow, Russia, in 2013 to thrust Russia into the luxury market.
* No other injuries reported following accident on southern island of Hainan * Military is currently intensifying training for pilots as it looks to strengthen capabilities
A Chinese navy plane crashed in Hainan province on Tuesday killing two crew members, the military said.
A short statement said the crash happened during a training exercise over rural Ledong county in the southern island province.
No one else was reported to have been injured after the plane hit the ground and the cause of the incident is being investigated.
Footage that purported to be taken from the crash site started circulating on social media after the accident.
Intercept journalist Glenn Greenwald speculated Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin might have some sort of dirt on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., after she abruptly shut the door on impeaching President Trump.
In a series of tweets, Greenwald also questioned the motives of the Democratic Party, members of which have long questioned whether Trump has been compromised by the Russians over the course of Russia collusion investigations by special counsel Robert Mueller and congressional panels.
* US State Department first withdrew all dependents in January and reduced embassy staff to a minimum * Said its decision this week 'reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, as well as the conclusion that the presence of US diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on US policy' * It did not specify what exact day the personnel would be withdrawn from the embassy in capital Caracas * Venezuelans started looting supermarkets in Caracas on Sunday, as power outages reached their fourth day * At least 15 patients with kidney disease died after dialysis machines stopped working during power outage
The United States is withdrawing all remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela this week amid nearly week-long blackouts around the country, the US State Department has announced.
It follows a January decision to withdraw all dependents and reduce embassy staff to a minimum in the country.
'This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela, as well as the conclusion that the presence of US diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on US policy,' Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Monday night.
Pompeo said the remaining diplomats in Venezuela will be removed by the end of the week.
* Theresa May announced 'legally binding changes' to Irish Backstop after she flew to Strasbourg for talks * Her husband Philip watched her in Commons as she said: 'If this vote does not pass Brexit could be lost' * She challenged MPs to vote for her Brexit deal at 7pm as she opened the Commons debate at 1pm * Jeremy Corbyn says Parliament 'must reject deal' but MPs are warned Brexit may not happen at all if they do * ERG Brexiteers and Northern Irish DUP took their own legal advice before revealing they will not back the deal * Fatal blow came after Attorney General Geoffrey Cox said his legal advice was unchanged over backstop * May loyalist suggests that she must call an election if she loses tonight's vote saying: 'We can't go on like this'
Boris Johnson slammed the Brexit deal tonight and warned Theresa May her plans have 'reached the end of the road' as hardliners prepare to kill off the package.
Tory rebels are meeting now to make a final call on how to vote in tonight's showdown as the Prime Minister faces a humbling defeat of up to 150.
Mr Johnson endorsed no deal as the only way for Britain to leave the EU with 'self respect' - warning the PM defeat tonight means the ailing package should be 'put to bed'.
BAGHOUZ, Syria (Reuters) - Islamic State faced imminent defeat in its final enclave on Tuesday as hundreds of jihadist fighters and their families surrendered and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said the battle was as good as over.
The besieged enclave of Baghouz is the last shred of territory held by the jihadists who have been driven from roughly one third of Iraq and Syria over the past four years.
A Reuters journalist in Baghouz saw hundreds of people surrendering to the SDF, which launched its final attack to capture Baghouz on Sunday, backed by U.S.-led international coalition air strikes and after weeks of siege.
A tomahawk cruise missile launches from the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup for a live-fire exercise during Valiant Shield 2018 in the Philippine Sea, September 18, 2018. REUTERS/U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class William Collins III/Handout
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will start initial production on parts for ground-launched cruise missile systems, the Pentagon said on Monday, after Washington announced it plans to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Last month, the United States announced it would withdraw from the INF Treaty in six months unless Moscow ends what Washington says are violations of the 1987 pact.
Russia announced it was suspending the treaty. Moscow denies flouting the accord and has accused Washington of breaking the accord itself, allegations rejected by the United States.
Elsewhere, I have, moreover, documented Chinese discussions of tactical nuclear weapons for anti-submarine warfare, as well as the importance of nuclear-tipped submarine-launched cruise missile (SLCMs) for strategy in the late Cold War. Let's hope that these are just academic discussions in the Chinese context and do not reflect actual weapons under development.
When one reads enough Chinese naval literature, diagrams of multi-axial cruise missile saturation attacks against aircraft carrier groups may begin to seem normal. However, one particular graphic from the October 2015 issue (p. 32) of the naval journal Naval & Merchant Ships [舰船知识] stands out as both unusual and singularly disturbing. It purports to map the impact of a Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike by twenty nuclear-armed rockets against the United States.
WNU Editor: The above article was posted a few years ago and is updated for today. As to my take on China's nuclear weapons ambitions. This report from 2 years ago tells me that while China has not built up a nuclear arsenal that is comparable to Russia and the U.S., they have laid the groundwork where they can accomplish this very quickly .... China Tests A New Missile That Can Carry 10 Nuclear Warheads (January 31, 2017).
President Trump is famous for ignoring the advice and expertise of advisers who tell him something he doesn't want to hear. But he is not the first president to spurn good counsel.
No American president—no chief executive of a Western democratic country—has displayed so much open disdain for the professional intelligence services of his own government as Donald J. Trump. He's repeatedly disparaged authoritative CIA analyses that concluded Russia meddled with the 2016 election. He ignores his own intelligence officials' assessments of the dangers of global warming. Just last month, when Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told Congress that North Korea shows no signs of dismantling its nukes, and that the Iran nuclear deal was working just fine, Trump struck back, just as he always does when reality intrudes on his dream world. "The intelligence people seem to be extremely passive when it comes to the dangers of Iran," he tweeted. "They are wrong... Perhaps the intelligence people should go back to school."
WNU Editor: I recall seeing years ago a documentary on Russian TV that Soviet intelligence told the Kremlin that their occupation of Afghanistan was going to end up as a disaster, but the leadership chose to ignore them. I think in both cases we had a situation where the leadership of both nations were focused on the "big picture" .... falling dominoes from Washington, and having a critical ally for Moscow in this part of Asia. And while both governments expected a bloody conflict, they calculated that the consequences of not becoming involved would be worse. Both Washington and Moscow were wrong. They miscalculated on the resolve of the people they were fighting, and they certainly miscalculated public support for these wars.
Mehdi Hasan challenges the Blackwater founder on his firm's role in Iraq and his new plan to privatise the Afghan war.
In this episode of Head to Head, Mehdi Hasan challenges Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of Blackwater, on his security firm's performance during the Iraq war, the "exit strategy" he's proposing for the war in Afghanistan, and his support for US President Donald Trump.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview that she opposes moving to impeach President Trump even though she believes he is "unfit" for office — her first definitive statement on the subject and one that stands to alienate members of her own Democratic Party who are intent on ousting the president.
"I'm not for impeachment," she said in a March 6 interview conducted for a future issue of The Washington Post Magazine.
"This is news," she added. "I haven't said this to any press person before. But since you asked, and I've been thinking about this, impeachment is so divisive to the country that unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path because it divides the country. And he's just not worth it."
Angela Merkel has voiced support for some major aspects of CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer's EU vision. The proposals include a joint European aircraft carrier and a permanent EU seat on the Security Council.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday endorsed some of the key European reform ideas put forward by her successor to the Christian Democratic Union leadership Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, including a joint EU aircraft carrier.
Kramp-Karrenbauer, who succeeded Merkel as leader of the CDU in December, etched out her vision in a weekend response to French President Emmanuel Macron's proposals for European Union reform.
WNU Editor: When you factor in the planes that are needed, the sailors required, and the support ships to protect such an aircraft carrier, this German idea for an aircraft carrier is years (if not decades away) from becoming real. My suggestion to the German Chancellor and to her successor is that they should prioritize fixing the current military, rather than dreaming of the future .... Germany not satisfied with readiness of submarines, some aircraft (Reuters).
JARED KUSHNER's Harvard acceptance is being re-examined after a college cheating scandal involving high-profile celebrities including Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin came to light.
IRAN has raised the stakes in its bitter war of words with Israel by saying it is ready for war if Benjamin Netanyahu orders naval action against its oil shipments in a further indication of spiralling tensions throughout the Middle East.
PAKISTAN tested a new 'smart' surface-to-air missile boasting "extended" range and warned it will respond to aggression with "full force" as tensions with India continue to build.
A British couple is stuck in Singapore with hefty medical bills after their son was born prematurely, BBC reports.
Chloe Wilkinson, 30, and her partner, Patraic Walsh-Kavanagh, 27, need about $183,000 to bring baby Lorcan home.
The pair were on a stopover when Wilkinson, 24-weeks pregnant, went into labor. On Feb 26, she delivered a son, who weighed just 1.9lbs.
The couple say their travel insurance does not cover pregnancy, and Singaporean laws prevent them from working to pay off the bills. While Lorcan remains in the hospital’s intensive care unit, the new parents have turned to crowdfunding.
“We are on our own, a 14-hour flight away from our family and friends, and it has been a very difficult start to parenthood whilst Lorcan remains in hospital,” Wilkinson said.
The couple were working in Australia when Wilkinson became pregnant. En route home to share the news, Wilkinson had to be rushed to the hospital.
Walsh-Kavanagh told BBC that doctors found an infection and told Wilkinson once she began dilating that it was no longer possible to make a connecting flight.
“Flying commercially has been deemed too dangerous,” the GoFundMe, created by Walsh-Kavanagh’s sister, Aoife-Lourdes Valentino, reads.
The couple are staying in a shared flat close to the hospital where their son is being cared for.
“We’re so thankful of everything so far, especially being so far from home,” Walsh-Kavanagh said in a Facebook post.
With resentment percolating over a record-setting blackout, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro lashed out at the U.S., blaming the U.S. for the country-wide outages and ejecting American diplomats from the country on Tuesday, Reuters reports.
Maduro claims that U.S.-backed cyber “sabotage” prompted the six-day power cuts in his crisis-wracked country.
“Donald Trump is most responsible for the cyber attack on the Venezuelan electricity system,” Maduro said in a broadcast. But experts said the powercut was more likely caused by technical problems in the link between the country’s hydropower plants and the power grid.
Maduro gave U.S. diplomats 72 hours to leave, though the State Department already announced Monday that all remaining U.S. Embassy staff in Caracas would be withdrawn because of the “deteriorating situation.”
Much of the country has been without power since last Thursday. Amid the prolonged darkness, hospitals have struggled to continue operations, food has rotted and exports from the petrostate’s main oil terminal ceased, Reuters reports.
While power sporadically returned to some, but not all areas Tuesday, anger has continued skyrocketing. Thousands of Venezuelans protested on the streets of Caracas in support of opposition leader Juan Guaido last week.
The outage is the latest blow in a nation paralyzed by dueling leadership claims by Maduro and Guaido. Maduro has repeatedly accused Washington of attempting to overthrow him and using Guaido as a puppet.
The U.S. and several other countries have recognized Guaido as the interim president, but Maduro refuses to step down and retains control of the country’s military. The U.S. has implemented sanctions to pressure Maduro from power.
Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy to Venezuela, said Tuesday that “very significant,” addition sanctions could be imposed in the coming days to increase leverage against Maduro’s government.
(LOS ANGELES) — One of Israel’s largest banks has agreed to pay $195 million for helping U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes by stashing their assets in offshore accounts.
The U.S. attorney’s office says Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd. and two subsidiaries acknowledged guilt Tuesday in a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice filed in a California court.
The bank has more than 4,000 employees and a Los Angeles branch.
In court documents, Mizrahi-Tefahot acknowledged that from 2002 until 2012 it conspired with U.S. clients to avoid taxes on assets and securities by opening and maintaining offshore accounts under false or code names or through foreign entities.
The bank agreed to pay the government $53 million in restitution, plus the $24 million in fees it earned from the transactions and a $118 million fine.
Two former police officers were arrested Tuesday in connection with the murder of Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco, almost a year after her death.
Franco, an outspoken advocate for the rights of women, favela residents and the LGBT community, was killed in a drive-by shooting along with her driver, Anderson Pedro Gomes, in March 2018. Many believe her death was a targeted assassination due to her political activism.
Ronnie Lessa, a retired military police officer, and Élcio Vieira Queiroz, a former police officer, have been arrested, the Guardian reports.
“It is incontestable that Marielle Franco was summarily executed for her political activity in the defence of the causes she defended,” prosecutors said in a statement cited by the Guardian. The statement also said her killing had been planned three months in advance.
Investigators did not confirm who ordered the killing or their motivations.
The 38-year-old rising political star was born in a favela and served as the only black woman on Rio’s city council. She had protested against police brutality in favelas, and was involved in a 2008 state legislature inquiry into paramilitary gang activity, according to the Guardian.
Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets to protest her death, and supporters have called for authorities to find those responsible for her killings.
Amnesty International, which called the arrests “the first sign of progress” in the case in a statement on their website, urged authorities to “ensure that investigations are independent and impartial and to bring all those responsible, including those who ordered the crime, to justice in fair trials.”
(UNITED NATIONS) — When it comes to political power, women are totally outnumbered by men, accounting for less than 7% of the world’s leaders and only 24% of lawmakers, according to the latest statistics.
U.N. General Assembly President María Fernanda Espinosa told delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women on Tuesday that there has been a “serious regression” in the political power of women across the world in recent years.
According to statistics from the Inter-Parliamentary Union released last week, the percentage of female elected heads of state dropped from 7.2% to 6.6% — 10 out of 153 — from 2017 to 2018. The percentage of female heads of government dropped from 5.7% to 5.2% — 10 out of 193 — in the same period.
“Despite some positive movement, the overwhelming majority of government leaders remain male,” said Gabriela Cuevas Barron, head of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
In parliaments, the global share of women increased by nearly one percentage point from 2017 to 2018, to 24.3%. But Cuevas said at a news conference that it took 25 year to get to that figure, from 11% in 1995.
“That’s why we believe we need to encourage parliaments to have affirmative action,” she said.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the executive director of U.N. Women, called the current environment “not the most enabling for women to rise.”
“We also have pushback right now, which contributes to the slowing down of women wanting to contest for office, because it is brutal,” she said, citing political violence, verbal abuse, and abuse on social media that female candidates and politicians face in many countries.
Mlambo-Ngcuka said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “called on us to push back against the pushback — so we just have to be stronger in pushing back against the pushback ourselves.”
Women must be “change-makers,” she said, because national and global institutions were “made for men and by men.”
MELBOURNE, Australia — The most senior Catholic to be convicted of child sex abuse was sentenced in an Australian court on Wednesday to 6 years in prison for molesting two choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral more than 20 years ago.
Victoria state County Court Chief Judge Peter Kidd on Wednesday ordered Cardinal George Pell to serve a minimum of 3 years and 8 months before he is eligible for parole. Each of the five convictions against Pell carried a maximum possible sentence of 10 years each.
“In my view, your conduct was permeated by staggering arrogance,” Kidd said in handing down the sentence.
Pope Francis’ former finance minister had been convicted by a unanimous jury verdict in December of orally raping a 13-year-old choirboy and indecently dealing with the boy and the boy’s 13-year-old friend in the late 1990s, months after Pell became archbishop of Melbourne. A court order had suppressed media reporting the news until last month.
The 77-year-old denies the allegations and will appeal his convictions in the Victoria Court of Appeal on June 5.
In explaining his sentencing decision, the judge said Pell had led an “otherwise blameless life.” Kidd said he believed given Pell’s age and lack of any other criminal record, the cardinal posed no risk of re-offending.
The judge also took pains to note that he was sentencing Pell for the offenses on which the cardinal had been convicted — and not for the sins of the Catholic Church.
“As I directed the jury who convicted you in this trail, you are not to be made a scapegoat for any failings or perceived failings of the Catholic Church,” Kidd said.
But the judge also noted that Pell had abused his position of power and had shown no remorse for his crimes. Kidd described the assaults as egregious, degrading and humiliating to the victims.
After centuries of impunity, cardinals from Australia to Chile and points in between are facing justice in both the Vatican and government courts for their own sexual misdeeds or for having shielded abusers under their watch.
Last week, France’s senior Catholic cleric, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was convicted of failing to report a known pedophile priest to police. Barbarin was given a six-month suspended sentence.
Pope Francis last month defrocked the onetime leader of the American church after an internal investigation determined Cardinal Theodore McCarrick sexually molested children and adult men. It was the first time a cardinal had been defrocked over the child abuse scandal.
One of Pell’s victims died of a heroin overdose in 2014 at the age of 31 without ever reporting the abuse.
The survivor made a statement against Pell the following year to a police task force set up to investigate allegations that arose from a state parliamentary inquiry into handling of child abuse by religious and other nongovernment organizations. The task force also investigates allegations made to a similar national inquiry, called the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
Australian law prohibits the publication of sex crime victims’ identities.
Pell gave evidence by video link from Rome to the royal commission, the nations’ highest level of inquiry, in 2016 about his time as a church leader in Melbourne and in his hometown of Ballarat.
The four-year royal commission found in its 2017 report that the Melbourne Archdiocese had ignored or covered up allegations of child abuse by seven priests in a bid to protect the church’s reputation and avoid scandal.
The royal commission was critical of Pell’s predecessor in Melbourne, Archbishop Frank Little, who died in 2008. It made no findings against Pell, saying in a redacted report that it would not publish information that could “prejudice current or future criminal or civil proceedings.”
Australian police interviewed Pell about the survivor’s allegations in a Rome hotel in 2016. Pell described the allegations at the time as “vile and disgusting conduct” that went against everything he believed in.
Pell voluntarily returned to Australia in 2017 to face an array of child abuse charges, most of which have since been dropped. The full details of those allegations were suppressed by court orders.
Pell was once the highest-ranking Catholic in Australia’s second-largest city, where he is now a prisoner held in protective security. Pedophiles such as Pell are typically separated from the main prison populations in Australia.
Pell was 55 years old and had recently established a compensation plan for Melbourne’s victims of clergy abuse when he abused the two boys at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996. The survivor testified that Pell had walked in on the boys swigging altar wine in a back room after a Sunday Mass.
More than a month later, Pell abused the survivor again, squeezing the boy’s genitals as they passed in a cathedral corridor after a Mass.
British Prime Minister Theresa May’s 11th-hour attempt to salvage her government’s Brexit deal was thrown into disarray on Tuesday evening, as lawmakers voted down her agreement with the European Union for a second time in two months, with just 17 days to go before Britain is scheduled to leave the E.U.
The vote, by a margin of 391 votes to 242, is another blow to May, who rules with a wafer-thin working majority and has lost the support of most of her cabinet according to some reports.
May’s defeat means the U.K. is on track to leave the bloc without an agreement that would have stopped raised tariffs on trade and uncertainty about citizens’ rights.
But lawmakers will finally be given the chance to vote on Wednesday night to avert such a “no deal” Brexit, and likely delay Britain’s exit date, too, in what could be yet another blow to May’s government.
Lawmakers forced the government to allow that vote, and most analysts now believe lawmakers will vote overwhelmingly to do so. That would trigger yet another vote on Thursday on whether to ask the E.U. to delay the date of Britain’s exit, from March 29 to some time further in the future.
May had hoped that the looming March 29 Brexit deadline, and warnings of chaos from the Bank of England in the event of a “no deal” Brexit, would pressure lawmakers who voted against her deal in January to change their minds. And although her defeat was by a smaller margin than the record-breaking one she had suffered that month, (by 432 votes to 202,) it was not enough.
“This was a bad deal in January when it was rejected by the largest margin in parliamentary history,” said Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the opposition Labour Party. “And it is a bad deal now.”
As May defended her deal with a hoarse voice at the Parliamentary dispatch box before the vote, she was heckled from the benches by calls of “nothing has changed” – a reference to a comment she herself had made after the disastrous 2017 election, which she had called intending to increase her authority going into Brexit negotiations, but in which her party instead lost its majority.
Tuesday’s drama topped off a hectic 24 hours in British politics. On Monday night, May had held a late-night press conference with the European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker, where she triumphantly said the E.U. had agreed to a legally binding change on the “backstop,” a key sticking point of the plan among critical lawmakers.
A legal instrument that would keep the border open between Northern Ireland, (a part of the U.K.), and the Republic of Ireland, (a member state of the E.U.), by applying certain E.U. laws to Northern Ireland, the “backstop” proved unacceptable to many lawmakers because it would violate the sovereignty of the U.K. government.
May’s claim to have settled those fears was shattered by Tuesday morning, when the U.K.’s attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, gave legal advice to lawmakers saying that “the legal risk … remains unchanged” of Northern Ireland being trapped in that “backstop” arrangement with the European Union.
To many lawmakers who had voted down May’s deal for the first time in January because of concerns over the “backstop,” Cox’s advice provided evidence that their concerns had not been sufficiently met.
After losing her voice, May lost her vote. Now, if the Westminster bubble can agree on one thing, it’s that what happens next is totally unpredictable.
(ALPHONSE ISLAND, Seychelles) — A British-led scientific mission to document changes taking place beneath the Indian Ocean has broadcast its first live, television-quality video transmission from a two-person submersible.
Monsoon storms and fierce underwater currents continued to present a challenge at greater depths as scientific work began in earnest on Tuesday off the Seychelles.
The Associated Press has successfully broadcast the first multi-camera live signal in full broadcast quality from manned submersibles using optical video transmission techniques, in which the pictures transmit through the waves using the blue region of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Previous real-time video transmissions from the world’s deep oceans were livestreams sent from remotely operated unmanned subsea vehicles, with the video moving via fixed fiber optic cable.
The first transmission came from 60 meters (200 feet) down. Previous deep-sea livestreams cataloguing the world’s oceans have been via fiber-optic cable. The new broadcast uses cutting-edge wireless technology, sending video optically through the waves.
The Associated Press is the only news agency working with British scientists from the Nekton research team on its deep-sea mission that aims to unlock the secrets of the Indian Ocean, one of the world’s least explored areas.
The multi-national team of scientists is gathering data to help policy-makers frame protection and conservation measures.
Nekton Mission director Oliver Steeds said the experience battling the waves underlines the need to expand scientific knowledge of the waters off the island nation, which the team is there to do.
“The problem is, when it comes to this place, when it came to the currents, the last current data that was gathered before we came here was in 1882,” he said. “It’s part of the challenge. This is exploration.”
The day of celebration was cut short when an accident severed the cable of a key piece of equipment, leaving it on the sea bed off the tiny island of Alphonse.
It wasn’t known what cut the cable of the Remotely Operated Vehicle, or ROV, though it may have been the ship’s propeller. The camera-carrying ROV is a vital image-gathering tool that can go deeper than the submersibles.
It wasn’t clear what impact the accident will have on the team’s work. The two submersibles will mount a retrieval operation on Wednesday.
AP video coverage will include exploring the depths of up to 300 meters off the Seychelles in two-person submarines, the search for submerged mountain ranges and previously undiscovered marine life, a behind-the-scenes look at life on board, interviews with researchers and aerial footage of the mission. The seven-week expedition is expected to run until April 19.
As the number of countries grounding the Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes grows following the deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash, some flights that have a connection to the aircraft have been cancelled or delayed — and the list of impacted flights could grow.
China, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Australia, Argentina, the European Union and others have all grounded the planes after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed on Sunday, killing all 157 people aboard. The crash marks the 737 MAX 8’s second deadly incident in less than five months — in October, a Lion Air jet crashed in Indonesia soon after taking off, killing all 189 people onboard.
In the U.S., the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Monday that it had confidence in the 737 MAX 8 aircrafts, and said the MAX 8 was still “airworthy.” Boeing said in its own statement that “safety is a core value for everyone at Boeing and the safety of our airplanes, our customers’ passengers and their crews is always our top priority.”
While Southwest Airlines and American Airlines — two U.S.-based carriers that operate MAX 8 planes — have said they will continue to fly the aircrafts, flights across the world have been grounded from at least 27 airlines. Carriers like China Southern Airlines and Norwegian Air took their MAX 8 flights out of service as of Tuesday. Because the U.S.-based carriers are not changing their policies, many passengers booked to fly on Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircrafts are unlikely to be able to cancel or rebook their flights without paying a penalty fee. Southwest does not charge a change fee for rebooked flights, though customers are required to pay the cost in fare difference if they schedule a new itinerary.
How the global efforts to ground the MAX 8 aircrafts will affect passengers whose flights are cancelled and delayed will depend on the number of these jetliners each airline has in its fleet, according to Ahmed Abdelghany, a professor of operations management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Airlines that primarily depend on MAX 8 planes to transport passengers will be more affected than ones that only operate a small number of the aircrafts.
“Some airlines will get a big hit,” he says. “Some will not.”
A shortage in aircraft capacity is likely, according to Abdelghany. It’s also unclear how long certain airlines can afford to keep MAX 8 aircrafts grounded.
“For every 50, 60 aircrafts, you might have one that’s coming out of maintenance,” he says. “Most airlines don’t have spare aircrafts.”
Abdelghany says he expects that most passengers scheduled to fly on a MAX 8 plane that might be cancelled will be kept up to date on their airlines’ plans in advance — which should help to quell crowding in airports. What will happen next is largely up to the airline in question. Some may be able to accommodate passengers on a later flight or different aircraft, while others can work with other airlines or airports to find new itineraries for passengers.
China, the world’s biggest market for the aircraft, has grounded 97 jets so far, according to industry publication Flightglobal. China Southern Airlines, which operates at least 22 737 MAX 8 aircrafts, has grounded all flights with these planes. FlightAware, which tracks flight cancellations and delays, finds that 30 China Southern Airlines flights have been cancelled as of Tuesday. Most of the cancelled flights are Boeing 737-800 or Boeing 737-700 jets, according to FlightAware.
Norwegian, which has 18 MAX 8s in its fleet, said it would stop flying the aircrafts until further notice in a statement. The airline acknowledged that its customers will face cancellations and delays due to grounding the MAX 8 flights. The airline also operates more than 110 Boeing 737-800 aircrafts, which were not affected by the temporary grounding.
“We would like to apologize to customers who will be affected by temporary cancellations and delays, but the safety and security of our customers and colleagues will never be compromised, and once authorities advise to cease operations we will of course comply,” read a statement from Norwegian.
Silk Air, which operates out of Singapore, announced that it was withdrawing its fleet of six MAX 8s until further notice. The grounding led to the cancellation of six flights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, according to the airline.
The U.K.’s decision to ground MAX 8s also impacted the TUI Group, a holiday airline that flies to different destinations in Europe from Britain. TUI decided to ground all of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 flights across all airlines used by the group.
“TUI will inform customers booked from tomorrow on respective flights about alternative transportation,” the group said in a statement.
Passengers unsure about their aircraft type or flight status should check in with their airlines to see if there are any changes in their itineraries, Abdelghany advises.
When Byron Román encouraged “bored teens” on social media last week to pick up litter, he didn’t anticipate his post would make a difference. But seven days and hundreds of thousands of shares on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Reddit later, the world is looking a little bit cleaner.
“Take a photo of an area that needs some cleaning or maintenance, then take a photo after you have done something about it, and post it,” Román wrote on March 5, sharing a before and after photo of a messy area being cleaned up by one young man.
Román tells TIME that a friend of his in Guatemala had posted the image along with a similar message in Spanish, so he translated the text to English and added the now widely circulated message: “Here is a new #challenge for all you bored teens.”
He tagged the post #BasuraChallenge and #Trashtag — basura means trash in Spanish. Soon after, thousands of people posted photos and videos to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Reddit, showing themselves cleaning up beaches, parks, schools, streets and more, all around the world.
Beyond trying to help the environment, of course, Román says that he really did want to help teenagers make a difference on the internet. “When teens get bored, that’s like the worst thing you can ever have — actually, any person being bored,” he tells TIME. “So, I thought, maybe someone will pick up the challenge and do something positive about it.”
The positivity has certainly spread far and wide — Román’s original post has garnered 323,000 shares on Facebook alone as of Tuesday afternoon, and the hashtag on Instagram has more than 25,000 posts. People picking up litter everywhere from Vietnam to the Philippines have sent messages thanking Román for starting the trend, he says.
Román says he hoped that a challenge of this nature would help people from different ages bond. “We’re all in this together,” he says.
I don't have a before-and-after picture, but here's a couple of pictures of me with my family picking up trash from the road side whenever we made a rest stop. #trashtagpic.twitter.com/TygYf2dM13
Though Román only helped the trend become more popular, he wasn’t the first to inspire a clean-up movement. Afroz Shah, a lawyer who lives in Mumbai, India, began cleaning up his city’s popular and infamously dirty Versova Beach in October of 2015. Shah’s work did not go unnoticed: He won the United Nations’ top environmental honor, as a Champion of the Earth, in 2016. Shah did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment.
The impact #Trashtag could make is yet to be seen — but Román thinks the first step to helping the environment is to stop creating litter and garbage altogether. “I think that would be a better approach to it,” he says.
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Gujarat: 25-year-old man thrashed for urinating in public The complaint was lodged by the victim identified as Sunil Ravat, a resident of Bapunagar area.
International body on sustainability enters India holding Thane man's hand Vidyadhar Prabhudesai hosts the first India office of the international body.
Mumbai: 2 held in 'Bol Bachchan' gang member's killing The two have been identified as Mahendra alias Mahesh Solanki (35) and Ganesh alias Golu Vaghela (27), residents of Kasarwadi area of Dadar.
Maharashtra: Missing alphabets may cost Physics students at HSC The answer is to be considered wrong even if the answer is correct but the serial alphabet isn't mentioned. The MCQ question carried four marks.
Despite Supreme Court order, information commissioner posts remain vacant in Gujarat Yet, Gujarat continues to operate with just two information commissioners even as eight other posts of information commissioners continue to remain vacant.
Congress-NCP confident of 18-20 seats from Maharashtra The sources said that the figures were derived following multiple surveys conducted over one year.
Congress MLA Bhaga Barad disqualified: Gujarat HC asks state government to file reply The now disqualified MLA had in a petition challenging his disqualification said that the Speaker had taken a decision that was outside his purview of power.
Maharashtra: AIMIM-VBA alliance on rocks over seat-sharing The AIMIM is miffed at the VBA for not taking it into confidence while announcing its nominees.
Gujarat: Class 12 pupils find Economics paper lengthy The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board on Tuesday recorded a total of 36 copying cases with 22 cases of SSC and 14 cases of HSC.
The battle for Lok Sabha elections 2019 has well and truly begun. As the build-up gets intense, we bring you some interesting facts and trivia related to Lok Sabha and elections over the years
How is the Prime Minister of India elected?
India follows a parliamentary system in which the prime minister is the presiding head of the government and chief of the executive of the government. In such systems, President usually holds a purely ceremonial position and acts—on most matters—only on the advice of the prime minister. The Prime Minister of India is not directly elected by the people, but he/she is to be appointed by the President. In doing so the President follows the rules of the parliamentary system. He appoints the leader of the majority in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister.
He/She proposes the names of the members of his political party to President for appointment as Ministers.
He/She decides the distribution of charge to various ministers and can reshuffle their cabinet also.
He/She presides over the meetings of Cabinet and can change the decisions taken therein.
He/She can suggest the President of India about the resignation or removal of any Minister from his Cabinet.
He/She also controls and directs the functioning of Ministers in the Cabinet.
He/She can resign anytime and can suggest the President of India to dissolve the Cabinet.
He/She can suggest the President to dissolve Lok Sabha and to organize fresh elections.
Eligibility criteria of the Prime Minister of India:
Should be a citizen of India.
Should be member of any of the house of the Parliament either Lok Sabha (lower house) or Rajya Sabha (upper house).
Should be at least 25 years of age if he/she is the member of Lok Sabha or 30 years of age if member of Rajya Sabha.
If the person chosen as the prime minister is neither a member of the Lok Sabha nor the Rajya Sabha at the time of selection, they must become a member of either of the houses within six months.
Should not hold any office of profit under government of India or government of any state.
He/she has to be a member of the political party or coalition, having a majority in the Lok Sabha.
If a candidate is elected as the prime minister they must vacate their post from any private or government company and may take up the post only on completion of their term.
He/she should not be a proved criminal by any of court of justice in India.
Palghar: At least 26 teachers from Palghar district in Maharashtra have been booked for allegedly refusing to do election-related duty, police said on Wednesday. The teachers from a school in Nallasopara area were last year appointed as booth-level officers to update the voters' list and undertake other poll-related works, Palghar police spokesperson Hemant Kumar Katkar said.
They were supposed to carry out the works between June 2018 and February this year, he said. However, since the 26 teachers did not turn up for the work, an electoral registration officer in-charge of the area complained to police, he said. Based on the complaint, the teachers were on Tuesday booked under Section 32(1) (breach of official duty in connection with preparation of electoral rolls) of the Representation of People Act, Katkar said.
Karan Johar yesterday released the teaser of his most awaited period drama Kalank. Since the reel was out people have begun scrutinising and breaking down the teaser for more hints.
One such treasure found in Kalank's teaser was the music. The soundtrack gives a haunted and creepy vibe but you will be surprised to find out which show it is could be highly inspired from.
Even though period drama and superheroes have nothing in common, Kalank's background music sounds as though it was created after watching CW's DC TV show, Flash. Pointing this out, a loyal Flash fan on Twitter wrote, "Ye #KalankTeaser me The Flash ka BGM daal diya hai Indian version bana kar"
And if you do listen to it carefully you will find the same comparison.
The two minute teaser drips royal colors and picturesque views. Each character and actors leave a strong impact, right from Varun Dhawan, Aditya Roy Kapur and Sanjay Dutt to Alia Bhatt, Sonakshi Sinha and Madhuri Dixit.
Kalank is set in the year 1945 when India was two years away from gaining independence from the British rule. Written and directed by Abhishek Varman, the film is jointly produced by Dharma Productions, Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment and Fox Star Studios. It will hit the screens on April 17.
The Agriculture Scientist Recruitment Board (ASRB) has declared the Indian Council for Agriculture Research (ICAR) National Eligibility Test (NET) II 2018 examination result. Candidates can check their results on the board's official website, icar.org.in or asrb.org.in. The ICAR NET II examination was conducted on December 27 to 29, 2018 across the country. The examination was conducted at 34 centres across the country. The ASRB ICAR NET exam is conducted to determine the eligibility for the position of Lecturer/Assistant Professor in agricultural universities. Candidates who qualify via the exam can apply for the above positions at agricultural universities.
New Delhi: SpiceJet has suspended Boeing 737 Max operations following the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) decision to ground the aircraft in light of the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash. "SpiceJet suspends Boeing 737 Max operations following the Directorate General of Civil Aviation's decision to ground the aircraft. Safety and security of our passengers, crew and operations are of utmost importance to us," read a statement issued by the airline.
In a late night move, the DGCA on Tuesday decided to ground the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft with immediate effect. The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said in a statement that the planes will be grounded until appropriate modifications and safety measures are undertaken to ensure their safe operations. "As always, passenger safety remains our top priority. We continue to consult closely with regulators around the world, airlines, and aircraft manufacturers to ensure passenger safety," the statement noted.
All 157 on board the Nairobi-bound Ethiopian Airlines plane were killed after the Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight crashed shortly after taking off from Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa. The fuel-efficient 737 MAX is the fastest-selling plane in Boeing's history. The plane-maker has accumulated nearly 4,700 orders from more than 100 customers worldwide.
The Indian Navy has declared the result for the examination conducted for Artificer Apprentice (AA), Senior Secondary Recruits (SSR) and MR. Candidates who appeared for the exam can check their results on the Indian Navy's official website, joinindiannavy.gov.in. Indian Navy had conducted the exams for AA and SSR from February 26th to February 28th, 2019. The Indian Navy has declared the result for the SSR & AA Feb 2019 Batch on the basis of their Performance in the Online Recruitment Test. The Indian Navy results for matric recruits October 2019 will be announced on March 15.
Anna University has declared the revaluation results of UG/PG Nov-Dec exam on their official website. The exams were conducted in November and December, 2018. Anna University had announced the main results earlier in January. Students who were not satisfied with their results applied for revaluation. The revaluation results of the exam are now available at www.annauniv.edu. Students can also check results on alternative website coe1.annauniv.edu and aucoe.annauniv.edu.
Here are the steps to check Anna University Revaluation Result 2018.
Visit the official website aucoe.annauniv.edu or coe1.annauniv.edu.
On the home page, click on 'Result by marks/result by grade' option.
SC rejects Meghalaya miners' plea on coal transportation After at least 16 miners were trapped in a flooded mine on December 13, the apex court has refused to allow the transportation of extracted and assessed coal beyond January 31.
2019 Lok Sabha polls: BJP-AGP alliance back on track in Assam AGP ministers who resigned from the Sarbananda Sonowal govt in Jan. over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill would resume charge soon.
Maharashtra Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil denies rumours on his resignation Amid speculations that Maharashtra's Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil may resign from his post after his son Sujay Vikhe Patil joined the
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