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World

State Department Removes Webpage Featuring Trump’s For-Profit Club, Mar-A-Lago

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The U.S. State Department, ShareAmerica.gov, removed a page it posted which had an article promoting Trump’s golf club, the Mar-a-Lago Resport in Palm Beach, Florida, after receiving criticism that the article was an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds.

The title of the article was “Mar-a-Lago: The Winter White House,” and it began, “Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s Florida estate, has become well known as thee president frequently travels there to work or host foreign leaders.” Trump is the sole beneficiary of the club, which is held in trust while Trump is President.

The State Department said they regretted if the public misperceived the purpose of the article. They said it was intended to inform the public about where the President hosts visiting dignitaries.

Guatemalan Indigenous Land Rights Activist Wins the Goldman Environmental Prize

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For standing up to the government and nickel miners expanding into the land of his 270-member farming and fishing village, Rodrigo Tot, 60, won the largest award going for grassroots environmental activists.

“An indigenous leader in Guatemala’s Agua Caliente, Rodrigo Tot led his community to a landmark court decision that ordered the government to issue land titles to the Q’eqchi people and kept environmentally destructive nickel mining from expanding into his community,” summarized Goldman Prize.

2017 winners: mark! Lopez (sic) of the U.S.; Uroš Macerl, Slovenia; Prafulla Samantara, India; Wendy Bowman, Australia; Rodrigue Katembo, Democratic Republic of Congo; and Tot.

‘City Stay’ Lets Students Study with Immigrant Families in the US

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A new study experience option has started, called “city stay,” which is in some ways similar to “study abroad.”

City Stay is the name of a program run by Minnehaha Academy, a private school in Minneapolis. When students enrol in a city stay, they are placed in immigrant homes for a week and have a chance to learn a foreign culture without ever getting on a plane.

Minnehaha’s “City Stay” project has about 60 students and 20 host families so far. So far, It is an unpaid project run by founder Julie Knopp.

Japan: High Sales of Nuclear Shelters as North Korea Tension Mounts

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Nuclear shelters and radiation-blocking and chemical gas air filters have seen higher sales in recent weeks as North Korea continues its nuclear program, including nuclear and missile tests, and America and China take a tougher stance on the nation’s military activities. Some stores have sold out.

Three North Korean missiles landed in Japan’s waters, 300-350 kilometers from shore, last month.

Japan is also urging local governments to hold evacuation drills.

No Married Men: Military Recruitment in Ghana

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No married men is one of the goals of the Ghana Armed Forces. The organisation this month published a list of requirements for new recruits.

Other requirements: Must be between age 18 and 25 for non-tradesmen and 18-27 for tradesmen; not bounded; and have at least 6 credits at BECE* including Math and English plus 5 credits at SSSCE** including core Math and core English.

GAF is dealing with an “era of recruitment scams” in which would-be servicemen pay to enter the army without going through the system, although the army has repeatedly stated they do not employ middlemen or charge fees for recruitment. GAF is still working on improving their system, working with the West African Examination Council to detect fake certificates and otherwise protect their recruitment process.

* Basic Education Certificate Examination (Ghana)
** Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (Ghana)

India Is Winning Its War on Human Waste – Gates

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India, where 600,000 people die of water related illness each year (world total is 1.7 million), and where 1/4 of girls don’t attend school because there is no proper toilet facilities, headway is being made in improved sanitation and risk education, according to Bill Gates, who blogged about the improvement this month.

The problem costs India an estimated $106b per year.

Two things cause most of the problem: access to proper toilet with waste treatment (to remove the pathogens that cause illness) in a country where most public spaces are used for defecation, and education about the necessity of using sanitary toilets, according to Gates.

In India, it is not feasible to build sewer systems and treatment facilities. For most toilets, one way or another water has to be carried to the toilet regularly. India is testing new toilet technology to find other ways of preventing disease.

As evidence of the progress Gates lauds, he points towards Clean India, the Indian government’s campaign to clean up the country, which includes ambassadors and toilet-use monitoring, and the statistic the organisation reports that 63% of citizens now have access to proper sanitation, up from 42% in 2014, and that 30% of villages have been declared free of open defecation, up from 5% in 2015.

Lawyer Found Guilty of Contempt for Livestreaming Trial on Facebook

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Attorney Nicholas Somberg was found guilty of contempt of court by Roseville District Judge Marco Santia for livestreaming a trial in which a Michagan man tried to fight a fine received for warming his car up in his driveway one cold morning.

In the trial over the ticket, the city’s attorney argued that the law was put in place due to a public safety issue. Two cars similarly left open and running in driveways were stolen and one led to high speed chase. The other had 2 kids in it when it was stolen.

During that trial, two TV news cameras were livestreaming.

Somberg acknowkedged that his associate sitting behind him was livestreaming, but had only done so after asking the local media if it was permissible.

The judge said Somberg did not fill out a permission slip for the filming.

Arkansas Executions

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For 12 years, the death chamber has been empty in the state, but this week a single execution and then a double execution were held there.

Jack Jones and Marcel Williams, both on death row for over 20 years for murder and rape, were killed most recently.

There is a rush in Arkansas because one of their injection drugs, Midazolam, passes its expiry in May, and the drug makers are trying to block the state from getting more due to concerns about how the drugs are obtained and used.

Putting Off the Wall

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The White House is moving it’s position away from demanding funding from Congress for a wall on the Mexico border in the face of a possible government shutdown.

Although analysists say a shutdown will likely be avoided because of Trump’s withdrawal from the demand, Trump tweeted for people to not to listen to “the fake media” and stated that, “The wall gets built. 100%.”

Trump Doesn’t Fear Trade War Because of Canada’s ‘Tremendous Surplus’

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Trump’s response to questions about whether he feared a trade war with Canada after his new taxes on lumber imports was, “Nope. Not at all.”

The reason, Trump said, was, “They have a tremendous surplus with the United States. Whenever they have a surplus, I have no fear.”

He also told reporters, “They’ve outsmarted our politicians for many years, and you people understand that.”

Canada and the U.S. charge their forestry companies differently for the trees they cut down. In the U.S. companies compete and bid for trees. In Canada, the provincial governments charges fees to companies which happen to be lower than the market price U.S. companies pay. American companies complain Canada’s system is an unfair subsidy.

The tariffs are expected to add around $1200 to the price of new homes since taxes are always passed on to consumers, although lumber prices have already started to move up in expectation of an increase in cost.

Analysts expect that Canada may fire back by taxing American imports to Canada.

New Website Tracks Government Money at All Levels: USAFacts

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Info on money — revenues and expenses — at all levels of U.S. government is being made freely available in a new website by former Microsoft CEO and current L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer.

The website is USAFacts.org.

Ballmer was not satisfied with the information available through web search. He said the project involved organization and accessible presentation of existing information more than anything else.

The website has interesting presentations of the data. Just for one example, it can be seen how mortgage interest deduction, which can be assessed in terms of how well it promotes home ownership, makes its way to the pockets of the various income brackets.

DJI Puts $145,000 Bounty on Drone Pilots Disrupting Flights

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The world’s leading drone manufacturer, DJI, is taking seriously drone pilots who are causing problems by flying near airports.

For example, in China’s Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, drones have caused over 100 planes to make unscheduled landings or returns, affecting over 10,000 passengers.

The bounty DJI is offering up to 1 million yuan for clues that help police crack down on those flying near airports.