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Federal prosecutors said the gang divided into "cliques" that operated locally under the MS-13 name.
At least one of the men indicted in the federal case has been charged in state court with murder. Everec Alvarez Chacon allegedly helped kill a member of a rival gang last year. One MS-13 member has already been convicted of murder in that case, and another defendant pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Washington and Beijing are making global headlines with threats over the prospect of a trade war, but they're also hurling indirect criticisms at each other on a more subtle front: Official travel warnings cautioning their respective citizens about the dangers associated with traveling from China to the USA - or vice-versa.
Instead, the summit is expected to produce a modest communique, which affirms the commitment of both sides to the multilateral trading system and promises to set up a working group on modernizing the WTO, EU officials said.
Chinese state media has promoted the message that the European Union is on China's side. Friction has also grown over the South China Sea and Taiwan.
Beijing time is 12 hours ahead of Washington.
"If the United States implements tariffs, they will actually be adding tariffs on companies from all countries, including Chinese and USA companies", Gao said.
"China will not bow in the face of threats and blackmail", he added.
"China and European countries are natural partners". "They firmly believe that free trade is a powerful engine for global economic growth".
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Tuesday the Chinese government was merely fulfilling its duty to warn travellers of "potential dangers". Now it is attempting to resort to an all-out trade and economic war to hold back China's normal development.
Travel and Leisure magazine's report on the alert, meanwhile, noted that China has been warning its citizens about gun violence in the USA for years.
A statement issued by China's State Council on June 16 said that retaliatory extra duties on US$34 billion of USA imports are set to take effect on July 6.
China has issued a safety warning to its citizens travelling to the United States amid rising tensions between the sides over accusations of unfair trading practices and other disputes.
China has warned that it won't yield to Trump's pressure.
Gao noted that most of those exports are actually made by USA and worldwide companies in China.
A report by New York-based Rhodium Group, a research consultancy, in April showed that Chinese restrictions on foreign investment are higher in every single sector save real estate, compared to the European Union, while numerous big Chinese takeovers in the bloc would not have been possible for EU companies in China.
Recent days saw the Chinese Embassy in Washington issue a fresh security advisory to all Chinese nationals thinking about visiting America. China's plans to move rapidly to electric vehicles mean that any new benefits it offers traditional European carmakers will be fleeting.
"Public security in the United States is not good. To put it simply, the U.S.is opening fire on the entire world, including itself", he said. "It's unlikely to mark a systemic change".
That would have a knock-on effect on other European Union states, hit cross-border business and travel. The decline is even starker compared with 2016: It equals just 19 per cent of the same period in 2016.
The results surprised many analysts who had predicted a second round vote and an opposition majority. The CHP said it had recorded violations in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday called for confronting what she described as Iran's "aggressive" policies in the region.
His face is set, his arms defensively squared. His friend carries a pamphlet that features a suspiciously healthy woman with glamorous hair and a glowing complexion. This is the urgent appointment of the day, for whom other patients were hastily shuffled to make room.
Go ahead then, be healed. And I will almost certainly see you again, emaciated, ruined, lamenting the fact that it’s too late.
I hear about the man who uses waves, the woman who boosts immunity and the seller of pure herbs. They are the healers – 100% convincing, 100% certified by a gaggle of secret Facebook users.
I have perfected my retort during sleepless nights.
In life there are no guarantees but you have a curable cancer. Yes, there will be side effects but we can manage them. No, I can’t guarantee a cure, but I’d recommend evidence-based treatment any day over the magnet that purportedly draws out cancer cells. And while we are there, it’s not my chemotherapy. Your taxes fund my job but I don’t profit from giving you chemo.
But how many times have I heard that if oncologists hectored a little less and listened a little more, we might win more hearts?
So I bite my tongue again, thinking of the alarmed nurse who begged me to change his mind. As I talk him through his various options from least to most intensive, I remember the patient who swapped chemotherapy for essential oils, the one who chose to “burn” the tumour out and the one who suggested I become a sales representative for a life-saving juice.
In an era where fake news abounds, why should cancer medicine be immune?
“You have the facts, you get to decide,” I reply.
I used to think that these second opinions were illuminating for patients and nudged them towards change. But what I have learnt in the last few years is that cancer patients in search of alternative cures are more deeply entrenched than ever in their beliefs. Thanks to the rise of social media, the ability to filter out conflicting viewpoints and a bevy of supporters for every outrageous idea, these people arrive convinced about their theories. Arguing with them is a fool’s errand.
Despite the longest consultations, carried out by disadvantaging other needy patients, these patients are often the most dissatisfied because oncologists like me speak our truths with less conviction than the quacks who promise the world but deliver nothing except a lonely death in an unfamiliar emergency room in front of a bewildered family.
A survey commissioned by the American Society of Clinical Oncology spoke to more than 4,000 American adults, a quarter of whom were current or former cancer patients. Nearly 40% of those surveyed “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed that cancer can be cured via oxygen, diet and herbs alone. This is despite the fact that patients who solely choose alternative therapies have a greater than twofold risk of mortality, and those with early-stage cancers such as those of the breast and bowel face a four to sixfold increase in mortality compared with those who have standard therapy.
It is tempting to think that modern patients with access to multiple vetted channels of information and, equally, many sources of health warnings, will use them to their advantage. Today’s youth are thought to be especially savvy and discerning. Alas, the survey found that nearly half of those under the age of 53 thought that cancer can be cured by alternative therapies alone. Even among people directly affected by cancer, a quarter believed in alternative therapy over standard treatments. If anyone was relying on family to help them see the light, more than a third of caregivers for cancer patients shared the misguided belief in alternative cures.
Enzymes, waves and magnets do not cure cancer, and they cost the patient every step of the way. Small bottles of unknown and frequently adulterated or plainly toxic substances cost hundreds of dollars, not to mention every consultation that pretends to read the eyes and sense the energy to cure cancer, even as the patient worsens. How do I know? Because dying patients relate these stories in a last attempt to prevent their fellow patients being duped.
It has been received wisdom that oncologists can see off quackery through good communication but I’m afraid that isn’t so.
Oncologists have been properly entangled in a web of fake news. Their authority has been undermined and their expertise ridiculed by a determined, global and hard-to-track battalion of quacks and their acolytes. Greater vigilance, stronger regulation and improved health literacy might help, but the pull of alternative cures is strong.
Make no mistake. With so much misinformation fuelling the use of increasingly bizarre alternative therapies, patients will be ultimately robbed and disappointed, and their doctors will be relegated to the sidelines. To paraphrase an old joke, oncologists will no longer be giving chemotherapy until the grave, but the quacks will be laughing all the way to the bank.
It so happens that this column is appearing exactly on my birthday, May 31. In a certain way, it gives me a good feeling: My written piece arriving, in my Banner-Herald newspaper, on my driveway, early on this special morning for me ... reminding me, thank God, that even in this later stage of life, I can still be productive and, hopefully, contribute to the knowledge of my fellow citizens in the local area who take an interest in religion.
Birthdays are signposts of time in our lives; in many of us, they cause us to ponder the goals of our lives - what really matters to us. I know that for me, and I think also for many others, it is important to achieve some level of holiness in life. But, what does this actually mean? What IS holiness all about?
As Rabbi Michael Gold helps me to understand in his writings, in the Book of Leviticus, there are two chapters very close together - 16 and 19 - whose opposite content is very instructive to us in this query.
In Leviticus 16, we read of a rather bizarre ancient ritual of the "scapegoat." On the Day of Atonement, this goat was sent out to the desert wilderness bearing the sins of the people. While this filled some psychological need, the idea that a goat could take away sins was illogical and irrational, as is any scapegoating to absolve oneself.
Yes, there is the element of the irrational and infantile in us all - it is part of being human - it involves prejudices and apathy towards wrongs around us.
But, then, very quickly, we come, a few pages later, to Leviticus 19, known in Biblical scholarship as the Holiness Code. This involves the other part of our inner nature, the rational. It shows how we can rationally rise to a level of holiness. Not through the cerebral or meditative - but through solid basic moral acts which are elaborated in this chapter 19: being considerate of the widow and orphan; paying the working person his or her wages properly; being considerate of the stranger and the hungry; not "cursing the deaf or putting a stumbling block before the blind"; never "standing idly by the hurt of your neighbor."
One of the thrills of my lifelong ministry has been seeing individuals rise to this holiness. Recently, I met a volunteer chaplain in a large hospital in another county. Without compensation, he comes to the hospital seven days a week, five hours a day, to visit patients, assisting the employed chaplain. This is holiness - selflessly reaching out to God's children, of which we are all capable.
So we think of these two portions, next to each other in Scripture, Leviticus 16 and 19. They represent the two parts of our inner nature: the irrational and the logical ability, through our actions, to rise to a much higher spiritual level.
As the learned Rabbi Gold himself says: "There are two parts of us, often at the same time. We are fearsome and dangerous, but we are also full of love, kindness and hope. That is what makes life so complex, and each person so different and interesting."
On this very day, my birthday, I wish us all more active holiness in our lives.
• Rabbi Ronald Gerson is the rabbi emeritus of Congregation Children of Israel in Athens.
Central Asian leaders convene for the latest regional summit in Astana on March 15.
ASTANA -- Four Central Asian presidents met in Kazakhstan for the first regional summit in almost a decade, a sign of improving ties following the death of divisive Uzbek leader Islam Karimov in 2016.
The host, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, described what he called a new "mood" in the region ahead of the March 15 meeting with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev, Kyrgyz President Sooronbai Jeenbekov, and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon.
The leaders resolved to seek equitable agreements on sharing precious water resources, boost regional trade, and hold a summit every year before the Norouz holiday, Nazarbaev said after the meeting.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov stayed away and the most isolated of the five former Soviet republics in Central Asia was represented by Turkmenistan’s parliament chief, Akja Nurberdyeva.
At a meeting with Jeenbekov hours before the summit started, Nazarbaev said that the five nations were capable of resolving all regional issues themselves.
"There is no need to call an outsider to resolve issues of the Central Asian nations, we are able to resolve everything ourselves -- that is why we are meeting," Nazarbaev said.
Nazarbaev also held separate talks with Mirziyoev -- who succeeded Karimov after his death was announced in September 2016 -- ahead of the meeting.
"It's been just a year since you came to power and in that year we have done huge work, we have set up ties with our neighbors, resolved some issues that had remained unsolved for decades," Nazarbaev said.
"Our mood now is different than it was before.... Today we are meeting with our colleagues, brothers, " Nazarbaev said, adding that he is "sincerely happy that you came."
During the autocratic Karimov's 27-year rule in Central Asia's most populous nation, its relations with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan were strained by disputes over transit routes, border security, water resources, and other issues.
At the opening of the summit, Nazarbaev said that the gathering had been proposed by Mirziyoev, who has taken steps to improve his country's ties with its neighbors since he came to power.
"Kazakhstan has always wanted close economic cooperation with all our neighbors, especially Central Asian countries, with whom we share a common history, a common culture, a common understanding and vision of the world," he said.
"Uniting our countries' potentials is advantageous for all peoples living in the region," Nazarbaev said. "The development of regional trade is advantageous, strengthening regional security is important for us.".
The six other Central Asian summits convened since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 produced few results amid sometimes sharp differences among the leaders, including particularly tense relations between Karimov and Nazarbaev.
The most recent summit, in April 2009 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, focused solely on the problems of the shrinking Aral Sea.
Talks at the March 15 meeting touched on a wide range of issues including water rights, which experts say is a potential source of severe tension in the region.
"A major issue is problems around water sharing. Our countries have 70 million people living here around two major rivers -- the Amudarya and the Syrdarya -- and we agreed today that no political bargaining is acceptable in that matter," Nazarbaev said.
Nazarbaev also said that the presidents agreed to look into possibilities to increase the trading of goods and resources they produce rather than importing them from other countries.
He said that from now on, the Central Asian leaders would meet annually ahead of the Norouz (New Year) holiday, which is marked in Central Asia on the vernal equinox, which falls between March 20 and March 23.
Next year's summit will be held in Tashkent.
In Chambers: Is Joey Didier’s murder worthy of Wiki?
The Joey Didier murder was big, big news in Rockford. Robert Henry Lower abducted, raped and killed Didier, a morning newspaper boy, in 1975. It was one of the region’s most heinous crimes.
But does the Didier murder warrant its own entry on Wikipedia, the interactive online encyclopedia? That question is the subject of much debate among Wikipedia contributors.
Go to Aaron Chambers' blog, In Chambers, to read more and to share your thoughts.
The Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) will be determining seeds into state tournaments differently in the coming years for the traditional team sports of baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, soccer, softball and volleyball.
In a meeting on January 24, the UHSAA Board of Trustees ratified a unanimous UHSAA Executive Committee directive to move to a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) to seed state tournaments in the traditional team sports, while simultaneously inviting every program in team sports to the postseason. The new seeding tournament format will commence with the 2019-21 alignment, beginning in the Fall 2019 season for all six classifications.
The RPI score will be operated by MaxPreps and will be based on three distinct categories – forty percent of the score will be based off a team’s winning percentage, forty percent will be based off an opponent’s winning percentage, and twenty percent will be based off an opponents’ opponents’ winning percentage. The algorithm will then create an index score that can be ranked to determine a state tournament field.
Several western states are currently utilizing an RPI system to seed state tournaments, including neighboring states like Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Washington.
Rob Cuff, the Executive Director of the UHSAA, said the move to the RPI was decided upon after looking at options to more accurately seed state tournaments.
“It has become a growing issue in the realignment of member schools to have the alignment process directly connected to the qualifying and seeding of state tournaments,” he said.
Cross Country, tennis, track-and-field and wrestling will use a traditional region-qualifying format, while golf, drill and swimming will use different methods to qualify teams for state tournaments. Every tournament will be conducted similarly, with the potential addition of a round to allow for the increase in team participants.
Cuff said the change in seeding teams into state tournaments will provide new opportunities to several programs around the state.
“This new approach in qualifying and seeding will bring added excitement to state tournaments as teams earn seeding based on overall season performance and not just region competition,” he said.
Assessment presents information on projected impacts to park resources.
As the grassroots organization for identifying community support for the parks department, Friends of Montgomery Parks is just one aspect of the fundraising plan of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. The Foundation will focus on several additional strategies including encouraging support through donations of trees and benches, and Legacy Naming Rights for Park amenities.
The arrival of the billion-burger-serving fast-food chains seemed to clang the death knell for the American diner, but diner enthusiasts gathering in Pennsylvania this weekend are celebrating signs of a resurgence.
As the American Diner Museum holds its fifth annual conference, the nation's oldest diner manufacturer is increasing its diner production, and two restaurant giants are remodeling franchises in the diner style.
When drive-ins and fast food captured the nation's attention in the 1950s and '60s, diners began suffering an image problem, said Brian Butko, co-author of "Diners of Pennsylvania."
"There was a greasy spoon image diners had," Butko said. "What was shiny, new and exotic started looking like yesterday's idea, and it's no coincidence you saw the rise of fast food and family-style restaurants like McDonald's and Denny's."
The number of diners dropped from 6,000 at its peak in the 1950s to about 2,500 today.
But the idea of diners is recapturing the nation's interest.
"We started seeing the first signs of a comeback 10 years ago," said John Lefkus, chief executive of Kullman Industries Inc., the oldest diner producer.
His New Jersey-based company is now shifting much of its production back to the diner business after a 40-year hiatus.
Kullman had turned its focus to schools, hospitals and telecommunication companies after all of the other original diner producers collapsed in New Jersey, historically the capital of the diner industry. Now, Lefkus said, 20% to 30% of Kullman's business is back in the food service industry.
The first commercial production of the diner began in Worcester, Mass., in 1881, with a longer structure being shipped out on flatbed railroad cars, hence the word "diner," or dinner car, said Daniel Zilka, director of the American Diner Museum in Providence, R.I.
"A lot of franchises are trying to capitalize on what was once a very large part of Americana," said Zilka. "I don't know if they can really pull it off, but the country seems to be saying this is something maybe they don't want to let go."
Overall the poll findings suggest that the turmoil in government caused by Brexit, which led last week to the resignations of foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit secretary David Davis, is having a more significant effect on how the public view the different political parties and their willingness to support them, than has been the case so far. About 51% of people now think Brexit is one of the most important issues facing the country – the highest percentage recorded so far by Opinium – and up markedly from 42% last month.
May now has the lowest approval rating specifically on her handling of Brexit since Opinium starting polling on the issue. Just 25% currently approve of the way she is handling Brexit, down from 30% last month, while 56% disapprove, up from 45% last month.
Public opinion is completely split on Brexit, mirroring divisions within the main political parties. Asked whether they approved of the deal hammered out at Chequers between cabinet ministers last weekend, 32% of respondents said they backed it while 32% opposed it.
The public’s view of Corbyn on Brexit has not shifted much since June, with 22% approving of his handling of the process of leaving the EU, up from 21% last month. In terms of net approval on Brexit, May now also fares worse than Corbyn with a net approval of -31% compared with a net approval of -23% for the Labour leader.