New Delhi: Eighty-three English teachers of Delhi University on Saturday released a statement condemning what they called “unacademic” and “politically motivated” attack on the syllabus. The syllabi of four subjects, including English, were referred back to the respective departments by the Executive Council of DU following protests from a section of teachers who alleged that they were “pro-Left”. The teachers said it was a “democratically drafted syllabus”, which involved faculty participation from around 40 colleges over a period of two years. Also Read – After eight years, businessman arrested for kidnap & murder”It is a matter of sorrow and deep academic concern that the syllabus is now being maligned, and is sought to be scuttled, by certain political groups at the university,” the statement said. They said that “at every point, discussions were minuted and circulated to ensure a continuing of the democratic spirit in which the entire exercise was undertaken”. “The syllabus has received extensive student and faculty feedback since it has been on the department website for far longer than other subject syllabi,” the statement read. Also Read – Two brothers held for snatchingsIn the English syllabus, new areas of study were introduced, and the syllabus was consciously decolonised to introduce students to a wide variety of writings in English, it said. The syllabus was carefully worked out to ensure a seamless progression from school curricula, transiting into postgraduate studies. In following of due process, the syllabus has received positive feedback from both national and international experts, it added.
83 English teachers of DU condemn unacademic politically motivated attack on syllabus
October 18, 2019
STRATFORD, Ont. – The Stratford Festival says the official opening night of its 2018 season has been cancelled and all its buildings evacuated after a bomb threat.Police in Stratford, Ont., say on Twitter that at about 6:45 p.m. Monday, they received a call that explosives had been placed at the theatre festival.They say festival officials were immediately advised and the Avon and Festival theatres were evacuated as a precaution.Police say officers are on scene conducting searches for suspicious items or packages.Ann Swerdfager, publicity director at Stratford Festival, says in a statement that patrons, staff and artists for a performance of “The Tempest” left the theatre quickly.She says all ticket purchases will be honoured and ticket holders for Monday’s performance will be contacted by festival staff.Swerdfager says all of Tuesday’s performances, including the opening of “The Music Man,” will go on as scheduled with increased security.
TORONTO – The strength of Canada’s team at the upcoming Invictus Games in Toronto lies in the bond between the veterans and armed forces members who form the group, the team’s co-captain said Thursday as organizers marked the 100-day countdown to the international sporting competition.The games, founded by Prince Harry, will be held in Toronto Sept. 23-30 and will mark the first time Canada hosts the event.The competition for wounded, injured and sick troops, including current and veteran members of the forces, aims to use sport to inspire recovery and draw awareness to the physical and psychological injuries suffered by service members.Canada’s team, unveiled Thursday, is made up of 90 athletes who have acquired a physical or mental-health injury or illness while in service.“It’s… the events that happened that bond us together,” said co-captain Maj. Simon Mailloux. “It’s a special thing to come back and to do a different kind of challenge, a sport one, and represent Canada again.”Canada’s team is already training at a camp in Kingston, Ont., after a previous training camp in British Columbia.Mailloux said the games are a source of motivation for veterans and active service members.“I’ve lost a leg in Afghanistan and sport has been the way for me to rehabilitate and be able to redeploy back, and be able to serve again.”Tickets to the games went on sale Thursday. Sporting event tickets cost $25 and opening ceremony tickets start at $60.Organizers also announced the Canadian musical talent, including Alessia Cara, Sarah McLachlan and The Tenors, that will perform at the opening ceremonies.There will be 550 competitors from 17 countries coming to Toronto to compete in 12 sports, including track and field, swimming and, in a first for the Invictus Games, golf.Michael Burns, CEO of Invictus Games Toronto 2017, said spectators will be amazed to see what the competitors will do — especially if they know how far they’ve come, with some of the competitors struggling just to get out bed months ago.“These are people who are used to winning, because they had to on the field of battle,” he said.The first Invictus Games were held in London, England, in 2014.
Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press OTTAWA — Jody Wilson-Raybould approvingly points to Brian Mulroney as a prime minister who knew better than to politically interfere with the judgment of his attorney general when it comes to criminal prosecutions.But the former justice minister evidently didn’t read Mulroney’s memoirs, in which the former Conservative leader proudly recounts how he ordered his attorney general to refer a controversial murder case to the Supreme Court of Canada.That attorney general was Kim Campbell who, according to Mulroney, did as she was told in the case of David Milgaard, who was wrongly imprisoned for 23 years for a murder he did not commit. She went on to become prime minister.Mulroney’s memoirs flatly contradict the version of events cited by Campbell in her own memoirs and repeated by Wilson-Raybould in a written submission last week to the House of Commons justice committee. The submission was intended to bolster her contention that she faced inappropriate pressure last fall from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, his top aides and others to stop the criminal prosecution of Montreal engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.As part of her submission, Wilson-Raybould included transcripts of text messages she exchanged with her chief of staff, Jessica Prince, following a Dec. 18 meeting with Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, and principal secretary Gerald Butts.Prince relates that the duo tried to persuade her that Wilson-Raybould should seek advice from a retired Supreme Court justice as to whether she could review a decision by the director of public prosecutions, who had refused to negotiate a remediation agreement with SNC-Lavalin rather than pursue prosecution on bribery charges related to contracts in Libya. Prince says she repeatedly told Telford and Butts that would amount to “interference.”In the course of that discussion, Prince says Butts raised the Milgaard case.“Gerry told some story about how Mulroney met with David Milgaard’s mom, walked into the cab(inet) room and told Kim Campbell she had to fix it. She gave him all these AG reasons why she couldn’t interfere but then she ultimately did what Mulroney wanted and was right,” Prince says.After asking for more details about the reference to Milgaard, Wilson-Raybould then asks Prince to send her Campbell’s cell phone number, commenting “Good grief — this is absurd.”Wilson-Raybould met with Campbell the following day at a Vancouver coffee shop.“Needless to say, she categorically denied what Mr. Butts had said and was quite offended and outraged by the comments. She adamantly denied the characterization not only of her as the attorney general but of her former boss, Prime Minister Mulroney,” Wilson-Raybould wrote in her submission.“She further reflected — as she did in her memoirs (1996) — that Brian Mulroney ‘was much too good a lawyer to intervene improperly in the matter. He never breathed a word about the Milgaard case to his AG, nor did anyone in his office ever attempt to influence her handling of the case.’”Wilson-Raybould did not mention that Campbell also wrote in her memoirs that Mulroney had “blindsided” her by meeting with Milgaard’s mother, Joyce, in 1991. She wrote that she was assured the two discussed only Milgaard’s living conditions in prison and not his application for a review of his conviction for the 1969 rape and murder of a Saskatoon nursing student, which Campbell had rejected.Nevertheless, Campbell termed it an “inappropriate intervention” and suggested it was politically motivated. She wrote that Mulroney’s chief of staff, Hugh Segal, told the British Columbia Conservative caucus that the prime minister’s meeting with Joyce Milgaard was “brilliant” and the kind of thing he needed to do more to burnish his image in the run-up to the 1993 election.Nor did Wilson-Raybould mention, or appear aware of the fact, that Mulroney completely contradicted Campbell’s version of events in his own memoirs, published in 2007.He recounted how he was “disturbed” by the way in which Campbell had “brushed off” Joyce Milgaard, having told her during a public encounter: “Madam, if you wish to have your son’s case dealt with fairly, please do not approach me.” He was “privately furious with her” for rejecting Milgaard’s application for a review of his case.Mulroney provided a condensed transcript of his meeting in Winnipeg with Joyce Milgaard, during which he said he was “extremely prudent” in his choice of words because he knew they were being recorded. At one point, he told her that Campbell is going to look at “new information that’s come in” and that he’s going to be talking to her when he gets back to Ottawa about her son’s case.When he got back, Mulroney wrote, he had Campbell summoned to his parliamentary office where, “because of the sensitivity of the matter, I met with her alone.”“‘The matter has been reviewed by the department and I have conveyed our decision,’ she told me.“‘Kim,’ I answered, ‘that is not acceptable to me. The law provides for a reference to the Supreme Court and it is my intention to ensure that this case is in fact referred to the Supreme Court.’“My tone was firm and my words unequivocal. She understood and changed her tack quickly.“‘Prime Minister,’ she answered, ‘If this is the case, may I make the announcement myself?’”The top court ultimately recommended Milgaard’s conviction be set aside. Campbell ordered a new trial but the government of Saskatchewan refused to do so, issued a stay of proceedings and freed Milgaard in 1992. Five years later, DNA evidence from the victim’s clothes cleared Milgaard and led to the arrest and eventual conviction of serial rapist Larry Fisher.Butts and the top public servant, Michael Wernick, have testified that no improper pressure was exerted on Wilson-Raybould over the SNC-Lavalin case. They have maintained they only wanted her to get a second opinion on the advisability of overriding the public prosecutor’s decision, as allowed by law.Wilson-Raybould’s written submission, released Friday, supplements her nearly four hours of oral testimony last month. She believes she was moved out of her dual role as justice minister and attorney general to Veterans affairs in a mid-January cabinet shuffle as punishment for refusing to intervene in the SNC case. She resigned from cabinet a month later.
Gurkha veteran welfare campaigners have criticised immigration tribunals for splitting up families by not recognising the difficult conditions their children face in Nepal.It comes after the latest case in which the family of a British Army Gurkha veteran face being separated after one of their children was refused permission to live with them in the UK.Surendra Kumar Rai has been refused permission to settle in the UK with his parents, despite his younger brother being allowed to live here.The ruling by the British immigration tribunal has effectively split the family in two, with Mr Rai not being allowed to live in Britain with the rest of his family.The 35-year-old was refused entry clearance to the UK in 2017, the year after his family had moved here from their native Nepal the previous year. His father, who served in the Brigade of Gurkhas but was not named in court documents, was granted settled status, along with his wife and their younger son Bimal.That decision followed a change in the law as a result of a high-profile campaign led by the actress Joanna Lumley for Gurkha veterans and their families to have the right to live in Britain in recognition of the wartime sacrifices they had performed for this country. But Home Office officials refused to allow Surendra Rai entry to the UK, arguing that he could not show he was still financially or emotionally dependent on his father, as required by law.Surendra Rai appealed against the decision, saying that he had been left alone by his family and was unable to find work and that the refusal to allow him to settle here breached his right to family life.An immigration appeal tribunal has now rejected his claim, saying there was no evidence to show he was still dependent on his father. The British Gurkha Welfare Society (BGWS) said immigration tribunals were failing to take into account the dire economic conditions in Nepal when deciding that individuals were no longer financially or emotionally dependent on their parents.Chaatra Rai (no relation), of the BGWS, said: “It’s very hard because there are many children over 30 who are still single and live with their parents because there is low employment in Nepal and even if you have a good education, it’s hard to find work.“These decisions to exclude some children risk betraying the debt we owe these veterans for their service and go against the spirit of the rules allowing veterans and their dependent families to settle in Britain.”In his ruling on Surendra Rai’s appeal Deputy Upper Tribunal Judge Monson said: “His parents had migrated to the UK by choice. In the circumstances, his parents had decided that, as an adult, he was able to care for himself. “He was in good health, educated to 9 th grade level, and there were no obvious factors preventing him from working in Nepal. He had not mentioned any personal incapacity, and had not declared any medical conditions or disability. There was also nothing to prevent his parents from returning and living with their family in Nepal.”Judge Monson said a judge at an earlier hearing had been correct to rule against Surendra Rai also being allowed to settle in Britain, stating: “Even if the Judge did not give adequate reasons for his finding of a lack of financial dependency, the Judge made a sustainable finding that there was a lack of emotional dependency, which is an essential requirement for Article 8 ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] being engaged.”The Telegraph revealed last week how the daughter of a British Army Gurkha veteran faces being separated from her father after losing the latest round in her four-year legal battle to live with him in the UK.Poonan Shrestha, 30, will have to have her case heard again after a tribunal said that judges had made mistakes in an earlier hearing by failing to properly address the question of whether she was financially dependent on her father, Bhishma Bhusan Shrestha, who now lives in London.The cases could have far-reaching consequences for the families of Gurkhas who settled in this country following the campaign on their behalf. There are an estimated 8,000 former soldiers and their families living in the UK, many of them in the garrison town of Aldershot. Actress and Gurkha campaigner Joanna Lumley celebrates near Parliament with retired Gurkha soldiers in May 2009 Credit:WPA Pool/Getty Images Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
Indian Coal Industry Outlook till 2012 is the new market research report by RNCOS. India relies heavily on coal for its energy requirements. This report reviews the performance of the Indian coal industry in recent years and focuses on the driving factors, future prospects and issues associated with it. The Indian coal industry is the fourth largest in terms of coal reserves and third largest in terms of coal production in the world. But despite its huge resource base, to date India has not been able to minimise its coal deficit. Key findings of the report include:Coal requirement for power utilities will grow at a compound annual growth rate of around 10% from 2007-08 to 2011-12Private coal washeries rapidly increased the production of washed non-coking coal in India between 2002-03 and 2006-07High coking coal demand by the Indian steel industry and low reserve base has boosted the import of coking coalsCoal demand from the Indian cement industry looks bright and it is expected that coal requirement by the industry will rise steadily from 2007-08 to 2011-12.Coking coal requirement in steel production is expected to touch over 85.34 Mt in 2011-12.http://www.marketresearch.com/
The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has commissioned an independent, multi-stakeholder expert task force to review its tailings management requirements and guidance documents under its Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, a mandatory program for all MAC members, to ensure they are as effective as they can be at preventing tailings dam failures and optimising the design, construction and ongoing management of tailings storage facilities. MAC plans to publish the task force’s final report by the end of 2015.The formation of the independent task force is part of MAC’s ongoing review of its tailings management program, which it proactively initiated immediately following the August 4, 2014 tailings breach at the Mount Polley mine, located in south-central British Columbia. The task force will review TSM’s tailings management requirements and MAC’s three tailings management guides, and will advise on how these can be enhanced and strengthened. The findings and recommendations of the BC independent expert engineering investigation and review panel’s report, released in late January 2015, will be assessed by the task force as part of its review.One of the BC panel’s key recommendations pertaining to corporate governance was that any mining operation proposing to operate a tailings storage facility in BC should either be required to be a member of MAC – ensuring adherence to TSM – or be obliged to commit to an equivalent program that would also include an audit function. Notwithstanding this endorsement, the MAC Board of Directors believes that a review to consider further enhancements to and strengthening of the tailings component of TSM is warranted.“The Towards Sustainable Mining initiative, along with the mining industry’s prioritisation of tailings management, has contributed to a strong record of the safe operation, management, closure and aftercare of tailings facilities in recent decades. At the same time, we believe there is always room for improvement and we are committed to learning from the Mount Polley incident with the goal of ensuring we never have another one,” said Pierre Gratton, President and CEO, MAC. “The Canadian mining industry is committed to doing everything it can to ensure the safety and protection of the environment and communities around our sites. If anything can be changed within the TSM system to improve safety, we want to know about it.”The independent task force will be chaired by Doug Horswill, a former Chair of MAC’s Board of Directors and former Senior Vice President of Sustainability and External Affairs at Teck Resources Limited. Dirk Van Zyl, who served on the BC panel, will serve as a special advisor to the task force. “As a member of MAC, we are pleased to see this initiative brought forward,” stated Pierre Lebel, Chairman of Imperial Metals Corporation. “Now that the cause of the failure has been identified, the industry is looking into all associated aspects of dam safety and design to prevent this type of failure from ever occurring again.” Dirk Van Zyl, who served on the BC panel, will serve as a special advisor to the task force. It is a privilege to be part of this important review, which continues to demonstrate the Canadian mining industry’s commitment to dam safety,” said Doug Horswill, Chair, TSM Independent Review Task Force. “The task force will work over the coming months to ensure that TSM and MAC’s tailings guides continue to be effective in the management of tailings facilities across Canada. If improvements to TSM’s tailings requirements and guidance can be made in light of the findings from the BC panel’s report, I am confident that the task force’s team of experts will be able to identify them for immediate incorporation.”TSM is a mandatory program for MAC members, and its requirements go well beyond regulatory obligations. It is designed to improve industry’s operational performance in key environmental and social areas, including tailings management, and it includes third-party verification of reported results. Both the Mining Association of British Columbia and the Quebec Mining Association have recently adopted TSM and are working with their members on implementation. A major component of TSM includes commitments to ensure the safe operation and management of tailings. In fact, one of the main drivers behind the development of TSM in the late 1990s was to ensure tailings dam safety through strong tailings management practices. Since TSM’s launch in 2004, MAC members have made steady improvement in this area.
According to the Inter Milan boss, the midfielder is distracted by matters outside football and it’s having a very bad seasonFor Internazionale Milan boss Luciano Spalletti, midfielder Radja Nainggolan could be very successful in the Italian Lega Serie A.After all, the boss has coached him at Roma and he just brought him to San Siro this year.But the only way he can do it is if he focuses on football and not on matters outside of it.
Lukaku backed to beat Ronaldo in Serie A scoring charts Andrew Smyth – September 14, 2019 Former Inter Milan star Andy van der Meyde is confident Romelu Lukaku will outscore Cristiano Ronaldo in this season’s Serie A.“We love him, he is a sensitive boy and he has all the qualities of the person who behaves correctly. But sometimes even the father grumbles with his son,” Spalletti told reporters as quoted by Goal.“Radja is attracted to other things and if you put too many things in front of football you do not win.”“He has three or four of things he puts in front of football and some of them have to be taken away,” he concluded.
ASA/WISHH Project Director, Erica Morrow and Deputy Director, Liz Hare visited Ghana in December to participate in planning meetings related to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food for Progress funded AMPLIFIES Ghana poultry and feed industry development project.Various subcontractors traveled to Accra to discuss upcoming activities that include improving feed, feedstuff quality analysis, feed miller training and poultry farm management capacity building. Participants in the meeting included professors from Iowa State, Kansas State University and the University of Kentucky, representatives from ADRA International Headquarters, and local partners, ADRA Ghana, KNUST University, University of Ghana and the local ASA/AMPLIFIES staff.While in Ghana, Morrow and Hare met with the USDA’s Regional Agricultural Counselor, Charles Rush and the Agricultural Attaché, Dan Archibald, to update them on AMPLIFIES activities.USDA is providing the American Soybean Association World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (ASA/WISHH) with $14.8 million over five years, 95 percent of which is funded by the sale of U.S. commodities, a process called monetization.
New Delhi: The brave hearts of Indian Army will be honoured with gallantry awards on the 73rd Independence Day on Thursday. Indian Army’s Sapper Prakash Jadhav of 1 Rashtriya Rifles (Mahar) will be conferred Kirti Chakra (posthumously) for his gallant role in an operation in Jammu and Kashmir. CRPF Deputy Commandant Harshpal Singh has also been awarded Kirti Chakra. Also Read – Enforcement Directorate summons Karnataka Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar Advertise With Us Eight Army personnel will also be conferred Shaurya Chakra, five of them posthumously. Eight more Army personnel will be conferred with Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), 90 will be conferred Sena Medals (Gallantry) and four members of Operation Rakhshak will be conferred Mention in Dispatches. Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, who spent nearly 60 hours in Pakistan’s captivity after Balakot airstrike in February, will also be conferred with Vir Chakra on the Independence Day. Also Read – Fresh restrictions imposed in Kashmir Valley Advertise With Us The five Mirage-2000 fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force who dropped bombs on the terror facility of the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror camp in Pakistan are being named for the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry to be announced on the eve of Independence Day, official sources said. The fighter planes had destroyed the JeM camp in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s province after entering Pakistani airspace for the first time in 48 years following a suicide bombing claimed by the terror group. Advertise With Us Meanwhile, 56 personnel have been awarded Fire Service Medals this year. Of these, President’s Fire Service Medal for Gallantry have been awarded to one personnel, President’s Fire Service Medal for Distinguished Service to eight personnel and Fire Service Medal for Meritorious Service to 47 personnel. Forty-four personnel have also been awarded Home Guard and Civil Defence Medals. Of these, President’s HG and CD Medal for Distinguished Service have been awarded to eight personnel and Home Guards and Civil Defence Medal for Meritorious Service to 36 personnel. Announced twice a year – first on Republic Day and then on Independence Day, the order of precedence of the awards is Param Vir Chakra, Ashoka Chakra, Mahavir Chakra, Kirti Chakra, Vir Chakra and Shaurya Chakra.
A police officer monitors the outskirts of the Dakota Access oil pipeline protest camp near Cannon Ball. Photo: ReutersUS authorities said Tuesday they will approve a permit to complete the controversial Dakota Access pipeline to reduce transportation costs and give US producers a boost as they compete against oil from Canada.The decision comes after months of protests by Native Americans and their supporters led the Obama administration to nix plans to build the pipeline close to native grounds.But President Donald Trump supported the 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) oil pipeline, which would snake through four US states, and ordered officials to reconsider.The Army Corps of Engineers, which has approval authority, said Tuesday that it had “completed a presidential-directed review” and planned to grant permission for the pipeline to cross government land at the Missouri River and man-made Lake Oahe reservoir—the final sticking point, which will effectively allow the last stretch of the pipeline to be completed.The reservoir is the drinking water source for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, which objects to the pipeline’s routes.The tribe vowed to challenge The Army’s decision in court, and called on supporters to head to Washington on March 10 for “a Native Nations march.”“We ask that our allies join us in demanding that Congress demand a fair and accurate process,” tribe chairman Dave Archambault said in a statement.“Our fight is no longer at the North Dakota site itself. Our fight is with Congress and the Trump administration.”The Dakota Access pipeline would connect the Bakken and Three Forks oil production areas in North Dakota to an existing crude oil terminal near Pakota, Illinois.In addition to the risk to its water, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe had also claimed the project endangered areas with sacred historic sites and artifacts.Additionally, it claimed that it was not appropriately consulted during the process, and that a proper environmental review was required.Energy Transfer Partners, the pipeline’s operator, has denied the tribe’s claims, saying the pipeline is safer than the current transport methods of rail and truck, and that archeological experts it hired had failed to find sacred artifacts along the pipeline route.Opponents vow to fight onNorth Dakota leaders who have supported the project promptly backed the Army’s decision.“This is a key step toward the completion of this important infrastructure project, which has faced months of politically-driven delays,” North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum in a statement.North Dakota Senator John Hoeven, who also praised The Army’s decision, said the acrimonious process had nevertheless raised some questions.“Going forward, we need to review the permitting process to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to be heard and that a fair, certain and legal process has been followed,” Hoeven said.The pipeline has been the subject of intense protests in North Dakota and around the country, galvanizing hundreds of Native American tribes, environmental groups and their supporters.Protesters had also camped on land near the pipeline’s path just north of the tribe’s reservation in order to physically block its completion—at times clashing violently with authorities.Tom Goldtooth, executive director of the Indigenous Environmental Network—a group that had a strong presence at the North Dakota protest, charged that The Army’s decision on Tuesday went against protocol and the established legal process.“It disregards more than 100,000 comments already submitted as part of the not-yet-completed environmental review process,” Goldtooth said.
Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib. File photoPolice will press charges before a court in Dhaka by this week against six people over the death of Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, in a road accident on Airport Road on 29 July, reports UNB.While briefing reporters at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Media Centre, DMP joint commissioner (Detective Branch) Abdul Baten said they have already prepared a charge-sheet for placing before the court.Those will be included in the charge-sheet are Shahadat Hossain, owner of ‘Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan’ bus which is responsible for the accident, its driver Masum Billah, his assistant Enayet Hossain, owner of another ‘Jabal-e-Noor’ bus Jahangir Alam, its driver Zobair Sumon and his assistant Asad.Earlier on 29 July, Diya Khanam Mim and Abdul Karim Rajib, first year students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, were killed as a bus ploughed through some students in front of Kurmitola General Hospital on Airport Road in the capital.The accident triggered a widespread protest by students, demanding safe roads and seeking justice for their fellows.
Tuition for Maryland’s colleges would be held to three percent during the coming four years if Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown is elected governor, the leading Black candidate in the June primary election pledged March 12.Under what the Brown campaign is calling the Keeping College Affordable Plan, the tuition increase cap launched under Gov. Martin O’Malley and Brown in 2007 would be continued in a Brown administration. The 3.3 percent cap on annual tuition increases at the state’s public colleges and universities makes Maryland’s tuition growth rate the second lowest in the nation.“As part of our campaign to build a better Maryland for more Marylanders, we make our children a promise: that if they work hard and do well in school, there’s nothing they can’t achieve,” Brown, who is campaigning to be the Democratic Party’s gubernatorial nominee, said in a statement. “We’ve made great progress over the last seven years toward the goal of ensuring every Maryland student has access to an affordable, high-quality college education, but we can do better.”The tuition cap pledge is the 11th policy proposal issued by Brown and running mate Ken Ulman, Howard County executive. Brown said, “that’s why Ken Ulman and I will cap college tuition growth at no more than 3% annually over the next four years — so we can extend ladders of opportunity to every Marylander, regardless of background or means.” Ulman said during the news conference, “Anthony Brown has led the way as Maryland has maintained the lowest tuition growth rate in the nation, including a four-year freeze in tuition cost hikes.”The June 24 primary pits Brown and Ulman against five other sets of candidates for the party’s nominaton: Attorney General Doug Gansler and Del. Jolene Ivey, Ralph and Feda Jaffe, Del. Heather Mizeur and Delmon Coates, Charles U. Smith and Clarence Tucker and Cindy A. Walsh and Mary Elizbeth Wingate-Pennacchia.
During the season, we mostly see a stoic Bill Belichick addressing the media with brief, mumbling responses that provide zero insight into anything relevant to the Patriots players or strategy.However, there is a relatively little known segment on the Pats website called “Belichick’s Breakdown,” where he breaks down actual film, and it’s absolute gold.In this video, Bill goes on for two minutes while giving every single detail of Chris Hogan’s 47-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady against the Texans, including how he and Josh McDaniels made an adjustment after running the same play earlier in the game, that allowed them to burn Houston for six.If you don’t understand why he’s the best coach ever, watch him drill down on this film, and it should be pretty clear. This is like Einstein breaking down a physics equation. It’s crack for football nerds like us.
Associated PressSIVAKASI, India (AP) – Police in southern India arrested 11 employees of a fireworks factory on Thursday, a day after a massive blaze at the facility killed 40 workers and injured 60 others.The arrests came as grieving relatives cremated the charred bodies of their loved ones, who died Wednesday when the fire blew up large amounts of firecrackers and raw materials stored at the factory.On Thursday, police arrested 11 employees of the Om Siva Shakti factory on charges of culpable homicide and storing explosives illegally, said police officer Najmal Hoda. Soundarajan, who uses one name, said his 19-year-old son who died in the blaze was a part-time worker at the factory, which needed extra workers to meet the demand for firecrackers ahead of the coming Hindu festival season.“My son left in the morning, and a few hours later we heard the loud sound of the blast, which even shook our house nearby,” Soundarajan said. “Only later I came to know that my son had lost his life.”Police were looking for the factory’s owner, Murugesan, who fled Sivakasi town after the fire. Murugesan, who also uses one name, is a local leader of the governing regional party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam.Hoda said the factory was operating illegally after authorities suspended its license for major safety violations.State authorities have ordered an investigation into the cause of the fire.Sivakasi town in Tamil Nadu state is India’s biggest hub for the manufacture of firecrackers, which are used in religious festivals and weddings across the country. Sivakasi is about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southwest of Chennai, the state capital.(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.) The vital role family plays in society Comments Share Early signs of cataracts in your parents and how to help Mary Coyle ice cream to reopen in central Phoenix Top Stories 
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According to 2015 TripIndex Cities, annual TripAdvisor cost comparison study, Mumbai is the fifth most budget friendly city after Hanoi, Warsaw, Sharm el Sheikh and Bangkok.The survey found the total cost of a three-night holiday in Mumbai comes to Rs 53,911, with the most notable expenses being accommodation at Rs 23,091. Mumbai is 39% more expensive than Hanoi, but with respect to taxi rides, it is cheaper than Bangkok, Sharm el Sheikh and Warsaw.“TripIndex Cities compares the cost of a three-night break during the summer travel months of June to August in 40 key tourist cities around the world, taking into account typical costs for two people. These include a four-star hotel for three nights, a visit to three attractions, lunch each day, a taxi to and from dinner each day, plus the cost of dinner itself,” said a release from the company.A three-night trip for two in Hanoi will cost you an average of Rs 46,645; excluding flights, which is three times less than the price of a holiday in the world’s most expensive destination, Cancun, Mexico, which cost an average of Rs 1,28,627.The survey also found that travellers can find the best value in Southeast Asia, since four of the top 10 cheapest destinations are located there – Hanoi, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Manila take first, fourth, seventh and ninth places, respectively.
Go back to the e-newsletterFor the first time, the 14th annual Arabian Hotel Investment Conference AHIC – held 17–19 April 2018 – moved from Dubai to another emirate, namely Ras Al Khaimah. Host partner Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority built what can best be described as the ultimate air-conditioned tent. It took six weeks to construct and, at 90×30 metres, it was big enough for an auditorium for the 900+ delegates, plus a smaller discussion area and all support, including food and drink and an adjacent majilis, only used for a multitude of royals on day one.Themed Focus on the Future, relevant sessions included millennials, when Emaar Hospitality Group CEO Olivier Harnisch described his E25 group which continually puts forward a younger viewpoint. But why, asked Jonathan Worsley, AHIC founder and chairman of organiser Bench Events, are millennial brands not already in the region? They will come, said Standard Hotels’ Amar Lalvani, but those brands are perhaps slow to realise the potential of the Middle East, although the 25hours group, now partially owned by Accor, will be opening at Dubai’s WT Centre. Also looking ahead, AHIC this year highlighted Ras Al Khaimah for big growth, not only on Marjan Island; the emirate saw one million tourists in 2017 and is aiming for 3 million by 2025 but there are currently only 5,500 rooms.Thank goodness for investment in a superb interviewer, BBC Hard Talk’s Stephen Sackur; he came here direct from interviewing Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in Moscow. Sackur was especially good when talking with Emaar’s charismatic chairman, Mohamed Alabbar, and with IHG CEO, Keith Barr. He also stirred up an owners’ panel to the extent that RAK Hospitality CEO Yannis Anagnostakis asked why some operators promise a five-star product that turns out to be four-star and that some guests consider three-star (in reply, such operators as Simon Vincent, Hilton, rose to heated defence). Sackur’s final task was to introduce wrap-up speaker, Sir Ranulph Fiennes.The main area of the tent had a massive exhibition area and a golf simulator. Waldorf Astoria Ras Al Khaimah GM, Alan Stocker, made sure the tent’s ongoing snacks and drinks were always superb. Waldorf Astoria hosted the first-night cocktail event, but pride of place goes to the second night’s desert extravaganza, hosted personally by Marriott President Middle East & Africa, Alex Kyriakidis, at the recently rebranded 101-tented pool-villa Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert.When Ritz-Carlton went into Ras al Khaimah it actually signed two luxury hotels, or rather, two amazing tented camps. The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Wadi Desert is 20 minutes’ drive from the coast in the eternal dunes of Wadi Khajeja, a 500-hectare national park. Arrive, and you go into a covered lobby courtyard dominated by a 300-year-old olive tree. The property’s owner, HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, specifically wanted a tree from Spain and this one, with its original soil and a horticultural ‘nanny’, was brought by ship through the Suez Canal, a three-month voyage in all.On my visit, I passed by the olive tree, I went on through to the open approach with not one but two 24/7 gyms on my left, breakfast room on my right and, 270 metres ahead beyond a long decorative pool, an Emirati tower on a hillock. A buggy with a falcon’s face painted on the front took me to villa 515, which was an extremely generous 240 square metres. This particular villa, one of 31 in this 101-total property, is like an extended figure-eight. Around the walls are no fewer than 31 blinds, only three of which are automatic (the others need pulling down at night, up in the morning).The bathtub occupies a central place in my tent. Lie in it and look – thanks to cleverly angled mirrors – around your entire space and out to the 12-metre heated pool, sunk into the sand. In the morning, gazelles flitted around the sand-dunes beyond. I went down the five wood steps outside my front door and took one of my two pale blue city-bikes for a spin to see The Farmhouse terrace restaurant, where I will dine next visit. Next time, too, I will try the Rainforest water experiences and have a massage.Amit Arora is GM of this and the equally stunning beach-set Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Hamra Beach and guests, like him, can shuttle between here and the Al Hamra property. But stay here, up in the desert, and it is all-inclusive, apart from alcohol. You get all meals and your choice of one activity a day. Falconry is on that menu and I met the bird, a lovely tame female who appeared, despite a leather hood over her head, to be quite content with her life as one of the many attractions at this luxury tented-camp hotel. I must comment, by the way, on its space. I am told the hotel was almost full last night but I only saw half a dozen other guests the entire time. Perhaps the tents are so addictive most just stay put.Ritz-Carlton’s other tented beauty in this emirate is The Ritz-Carlton Ras Al Khaimah, Al Hamra Beach. This merely has 31 luxury tented villas on a narrow L-shaped man-made promontory off Ras Al Khaimah. It was reopened only two months ago and already it is understandably popular as a weekend retreat for people in Dubai, just under an hour’s drive away. Expats and locals, adult couples and family groups alike flock here to get away from reality. Once you arrive at the resort’s air-conditioned welcome post, you are given the option of continuing to your tent by buggy, to save time, or, more romantically, by boat.GM Amit Arora told me how, during over a year of closure, the brand’s stamp was put on the place. All the tents were upgraded and, right at the far end of the L-shaped land, six more villas (not tented) were added. Four of these are spa rooms – I had a soothing and muscle-relaxing Thai massage in Sky – and the other two are cardio and fitness, Technogym and open 24/7. Next visit I will also fit in a workout with Miss Ukraine, the fitness instructor (yes, this resort has everything, including a full-scale Ritz Kids facility).The main eating and drinking venue is the indoor-out Shore House. I lunched out on the deck, enjoying not only a local salad, with spinach leaves and dates, but also the service. All the 100-strong team wear the same gear – white shirts and royal blue trousers with nifty white sun-beating hats – so they can ‘do’ anything as required. There is a lot of flexibility in this entire operation. I wanted, for instance, to dine in my tent. The stylish marquetry table was covered, shower-cap style, with a fitted linen cloth and my burrata and penne pesto would do credit to any establishment in Italy.In the morning, I really admired the breakfast buffet’s healthy stuff, with lots of yoghurts, cereals and great bread. Then, before leaving, I had a first: it was cactus-planting time. The cactus had been in my tent all night and somehow it and I had not been in too close contact. Now, with a pair of thick gloves on, and watched by some of the crew, representing team members from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sweden and Ukraine, I had the honour of launching what will be this luxury hotel’s cactus garden. You can, by the way, stay here on an à la carte, half-board or full-board basis. The cactus is extra.A few practical points. Either resort is under an hour from Dubai’s main airport, which is about the same time that you would need to allow from airport to the end of Dubai’s Palm, and the two Ras Al Khaimah resorts are 20 minutes from each other, with free shuttle. (From either resort to Abu Dhabi is over two hours.)Mary Gostelow travels over 300 days a year, doing one-night stands in top hotels around the world. Read her daily travelogue, www.girlahead.comGo back to the e-newsletter