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DTP deputies Aysel Tuğluk and Ayla Akat Ata, who are also lawyers who previously represented Abdullah Öcalan -- the head of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who is jailed in an island-prison in İstanbul -- might face trial if Parliament decides to remove their immunity.
The cases of a number of DTP deputies facing similar charges were combined into a single file which is being dealt with by the İstanbul 9th High Criminal Court. There are 13 suspects in the case. The court had a hearing yesterday; however, none of the suspects, including Tuğluk and Ata Birand, showed up in court. Özcan Kılıç, a lawyer representing Tuğluk, was present at the hearing. The court accepted the public prosecutor's demand to continue with Tuğluk and Ata's trial, stipulating that the Parliament's Presidency be informed of its decision.
Kılıç said his clients faced up to twelve-and-a-half years on charges of promoting, assisting and abetting a terrorist organization. Kılıç said most of the accusations were made on the basis of statements made by Tuğluk and Ata when they defended Abdullah Öcalan in court.
The decision of the court also creates a risk for Sebahat Tuncel, another DTP deputy facing trial, being brought before the court, as the decision of the court may be taken as an precedent. A court hearing in October will decide whether the trial of Tuncel, who is accused of membership in a terrorist organization, should continue despite her election to Parliament.
Take a small county, add 100,000 people and you'll see how growing up in Indian River County can be completely different.
Swimming in canals, running behind the truck spraying chemicals to kill mosquitoes, hitting golf balls into the ocean from the dune at what’s now the Conn Beach boardwalk.
These are some of things youngsters did growing up in the 1960s and 1970s in Indian River County.
Perhaps children still do some of those things, but that's doubtful, according to a few members of the Vero Beach High School Class of 1978 I spoke with recently at their 40th reunion.
My goal: to learn how growing up over the past half-century — about half the history of Vero Beach, Indian River County and the Press Journal — has changed. I met people who should know, including the mother of a 14-year-old, the great-grandmother of a 3-year-old and a bunch of people in between.
It’s a fascinating graduating class, one I married into in 1988, when I met many of my wife’s classmates at their 10-year reunion. They’re a friendly bunch who were in elementary school when the county integrated its classrooms.
Fewer than 40,000 people lived in Indian River County when Class of 1978 members were about 10 years old; the population was 154,383 last July 1. Since their graduation, the county has added two tax-supported high schools, and Sebastian’s population has far surpassed Vero Beach’s.
Many class members raised their families in Indian River County. They speak of the old days with fondness, some citing the challenges and unfortunate changes that have occurred in a county almost four times the size it was 40 years ago.
MORE: Time for Vero Beach to sell old Dodgertown golf course to developers?
That sentiment was echoed by his classmates.
Wendy Smith Bushong, who has the youngest child among the reunion-gatherers — her son, Connor, will be a freshman at Indian River Charter High School — agreed.
Barbara Smith Riley, the great-grandmother in the bunch, concurred.
“We went anywhere we wanted to go; mama never had to worry about us because the neighborhood watched us,” Riley said. “If you did something wrong they was going to whup you and call your parents, and then they’d whup you."
“(My grandkids) … have to let me know where they’re going,” she said, noting her neighborhood was safer years ago.
Sandra Burnette Crumpler, a teacher at Citrus Elementary, where her 12-year-old grandson attended, agreed.
School safety is more of an issue now, too, said Riley, a retired bus driver, citing bullying and other issues.
At the same time, schools are more focused academically.
Lunceford, whose son, Lance, a nationally honored trombonist, graduated from VBHS this year and will head to the University of Pennsylvania, said youngsters know more now thanks to technology. They’re more globally aware and are apt to take longer trips on their own, even by plane.
More children had jobs in the 1970s, he said, noting he delivered the Press Journal on Sundays and Wednesdays and the Free Press on Thursdays.
The Press Journal is still around, but other things are not.
You can attribute that to one thing: development, which led to rampant population growth. Orchid Island was hardly developed when the class of 1978 was born. Now State Road A1A sometimes is packed with vehicles.
But some things haven’t changed. The canals are still around; the mosquito truck still makes its rounds and youngsters hang out the Conn Beach boardwalk.
Qualcomm is seeking the help of a Chinese court to get a local smartphone maker, Meizu, to agree to licensing terms for patents that the company broadly agreed to with the Chinese government last year.
Qualcomm alleges that Meizu in Zhuhai is refusing to sign the patent agreement although over 100 players, including top Chinese phone makers, have accepted the terms under a new rectification plan agreed with China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) last year.
Set up in 2003, Meizu has more than 1,000 employees and sells its smartphones through 600 retail stores. Besides selling in China, it claims a global presence in Hong Kong, Russia, Israel and Ukraine, according to its website. The company did not immediately comment on the court complaint.
In February last year, Qualcomm said it had agreed to pay a US$975 million fine to Chinese authorities for alleged monopolistic business practices relating to its patent licensing business. It also agreed to modify its business practices. NDRC had been investigating Qualcomm for allegedly engaging in possible anti-competitive behavior by overcharging device makers in the country.
Qualcomm has been building its bridges in China, including by setting up a server chipset design and sales unit with the Guizhou provincial government. The company has also announced other collaborations in the country that would help it gain access to the local market, including for the local production of its Snapdragon mobile processors by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation.
SMIC said this week that it had started mass production of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor in Beijing.
Qualcomm charged Meizu with “unfairly expanding its business through the use of Qualcomm's innovations without compensating Qualcomm for the use of Qualcomm's valuable technologies.” It added that Meizu's move to use the technologies without a license was also unfair to other licensees.
Apple is also facing legal issues in China with its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus facing a potential sales ban in the country. A Beijing intellectual property office ruled that the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus infringe a design patent held by device maker Shenzhen Baili.
The Democrats' Matthew Whitaker hearing was a total bust.
Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker testifies before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the Justice Department, at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on February 8, 2019.
If you’ve watched any congressional hearings in the past two years, you might recognize a familiar ritual when Democratic members of the House or Senate have attempted to question top Trump officials.
When seemingly simple “yes-no” questions arise, the witness might filibuster. If the question was about something the president might have discussed with the official, he might claim that executive privilege shielded conversations with the president—but executive privilege would never actually be asserted by the White House.
Ultimately, a five-minute timer would run out. At this point, the Republican chairman of the committee would hit the gavel and say the questioning period had ended and the hearing would move on. Sometimes, if the member of Congress would push too hard to get a specific answer, she would be shushed.
Because Republicans controlled the committees and showed little interest in seeing Democratic oversight inquiries answered, this would be the end of the matter. On Friday, in the House Judiciary Committee, newly empowered Democrats, led by Chairman Jerrold Nadler, had the opportunity to change the script.
In fact, the situation played out almost exactly as it had in the past, down to a Republican calling “time’s up” on a Democrat. This time it was the witness, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who attempted to shut down the questioning of the Democratic chairman by citing that time had expired when Nadler attempted to get Whitaker to answer questions about his role overseeing the special counsel’s office. “Mr. Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up,” Whitaker replied.
A number of attendees broke into laughter at this, including the chairman himself. It was unclear if it was actually meant as a joke, or a prompt. This early back-and-forth demonstrated the extent to which Whitaker may have been a poor choice as an early high-profile target of Democrats’ newfound congressional oversight efforts.
For one, as the committee’s ranking minority member Doug Collins noted in his opening remarks, Whitaker likely has less than a week left in office before William Barr is confirmed as the new attorney general. Secondly, as Collins also noted, Nadler had the day before held a vote to authorize a subpoena of Whitaker should he refuse to answer the panel’s questions, only to quietly holster that power after Whitaker threatened to cancel his appearance. Nadler had actually announced in a letter to Whitaker that was released to the public on Thursday evening that the committee would not use the subpoena “if you are prepared to respond to questions from our Members.” The clear implication was that a subpoena was still on the table if Whitaker dodged. In actuality, Collins said, the chairman had sent a second letter to the Department of Justice guaranteeing that there would be no subpoena.
“We’re not joking here and your humor is not acceptable,” Jackson Lee responded.
Democrats were seeking to get at these questions because of reports that Whitaker had essentially attempted to audition for a top job with the administration by publicly trashing Mueller, and that the president had eaten it up. With Whitaker then refusing to recuse himself from leading the DOJ’s inquiries into the president’s possible dirty laundry, questions have swirled about why he was put in charge of those investigations and what he has sought to do with that power. Again, there were few answers.
Democrats were mocked not only by Whitaker but by their colleagues on the other side of the aisle. While Rep. Eric Swalwell attempted to get Whitaker to answer questions about his previous work on a private watchdog organization, Collins interrupted to say, “If you’d ask questions that are actually part of this instead of running for president we could get this done.” Even a couple of Swalwell’s Democratic colleagues—Reps. Ted Deutch and David Cicilline—appeared to laugh at this remark.
Nadler said during the hearing that he was requesting Whitaker reappear before the committee for a sworn deposition to respond further to unanswered questions and for the White House to be forced to go on the record claiming executive privilege. Barring a change in the subpoena position, it’s unclear that will actually happen. And after Friday, it’s also unclear what the point might be.
CRAIG Brown has heaped praise on his younger players, despite Tuesday's humbling at Reading.
And the older players have something to look forward to as well -- thanks to their boss's self-imposed punishment.
Despite seeing his side go down 5-1 at the Madjeski Stadium, Brown praised his players: "I have to give credit to my younger players, despite the scoreline their heads never went down," he said.
"Eric Skora played well, and Tyrone Mears' goal was spectacular."
Brown has vowed to give youth a chance to shine now North End have nothing but pride to play for.
Pawel Abbott and Simon Lynch are getting regular run-outs alongside stalwart Richard Cresswell, while Tyrone Mears and Skora are figuring more and more.
Dickson Etuhu has been a regular this season, despite his tender age although speculation is growing that he could be targeted by the Premiership's big guns over the summer after being likened to Arsenal midfielder Patrick Viera.
That speculation has been fuelled by an intriguing answer from Tyrone Mears -- who has played at both Manchester City and PNE with Etuhu -- to a question posted by a fan on the club's website.
Asked if he could ask any one question to any one player, what would it be and to who, Mears replied that he would ask Dickson "if he is moving in the summer."
Meanwhile, the whole Preston squad have a decent night out to look forward to following Craig Brown's banishment to the stands for walking on to the pitch during Saturday's victory at Brighton.
The boss was enraged by a decision not to award a penalty. Brown has fined himself, by offering to pick up the tab for a players' night out.
He said: "I have told the captain to pick a night out and they can hammer the bill. It wouldn't be right for the players to cough up and the manager not to. It was only a minor indiscretion and this is my punishment."
Brown is also studying video evidence to see if Michael Jackson should have been sent off at Reading on Tuesday. He received two yellow cards, one of which Brown isn't 100 per cent sure on.
This weekend sees North End's penultimate home game of the season, at home to another high-flying team, Sheffield United.
They come to Deepdale on the back of their FA defeat by Arsenal. Manager Neil Warnock shares something in common with Brown ... both believe they have been hard done to by referees of late.
Mark Rankine is currently on loan at the Sheffield club.
Five children in Washington state have been hospitalized for the sudden onset of paralysis of one or more of their limbs, Washington State Department of Health officials announced Wednesday.
Health department officials are working with experts to confirm whether the children have acute flaccid myelitis (AFM).
All five of the infants and children are younger than 6 years old.
>> On WPXI.com: Acute flaccid myelitis: Why is mysterious polio-like illness afflicting children so badly?
AFM is a rare condition that affects the nervous system, especially the spinal cord, health officials said.
On Oct. 8, WSB-TV in Atlanta reported an uptick in the illness impacting children.
It is raising serious red flags with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers.
The rare disease is similar to polio.
The five young children being treated in Washington state reportedly had symptoms of a respiratory illness in the week prior to developing symptoms of AFM.
Health officials said the children are residents of King County, Pierce County, Lewis County and Snohomish County.
In 2016, there were nine cases of AFM in Washington state, health officials said. In 2017, there were three cases, and since the beginning of 2018, there has been one case in the state.
Photo: Police are investigating three separate incidents that occurred on Adelaide roads yesterday.
A teenager is in hospital with life-threatening injuries and an elderly woman has serious injuries after they were hit by vehicles in separate crashes on Adelaide roads yesterday afternoon.
A third person was also hit by a vehicle just after 10:00pm last night.
Police said a 14-year-old boy from Elizabeth Vale was rushed to hospital with serious injuries following a crash at 3:15pm on Harvey Road at Elizabeth Grove on Wednesday.
The 48-year-old driver from Salisbury Downs was not injured.
In a separate incident 45 minutes before, an elderly woman from Park Holme sustained serious injuries after she was struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Marion Road and Mabel Street at Plympton, south of Adelaide, about 2:30pm.
The 82-year-old woman was taken to Flinders Medical Centre in a serious condition while the 28-year-old driver of the vehicle was not injured.
A man is also in the Royal Adelaide Hospital with serious head injuries after being hit by a car at Mansfield Park just after 10:00pm last night.
Police said patrols and paramedics were called to Grand Junction Road after a car collided with a pedestrian near Hanson Road.
The 61-year-old man was treated at the scene before being taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Police are investigating the circumstances of all three incidents.
The horror day on Adelaide roads follows a spate of pedestrian crashes in Adelaide in the past few weeks.
On January 16, a 72-year-old man died after being hit by a truck at the intersection of Grand Junction Road and Hanson Road at about 10:45am.
A 22-year-old woman was taken to hospital following a hit-and-run crash in Adelaide's northern suburbs on Christmas morning.
On December 29, a man was killed when he was hit by a car on Black Road at O'Halloran Hill.
Yesterday's incidents have sparked a warning from RAA road safety senior manager Charles Mountain who said it really highlighted the importance of pedestrians being vigilant when crossing busy roads.
"Particularly crossing major multi-lane roads [which] is quite challenging, even at the best of times, but certainly during busy times and after school and these periods," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
"Yesterday in particular was a terrible day for pedestrians.
"Wherever possible we really urge people to walk, in some cases the extra distance, to a designated pedestrian crossing facility and use it for this very reason."
Mr Mountain said there could often be confusion about who had the right of way when someone in a vehicle saw a pedestrian crossing a busy road, but all drivers had a duty of care.
"If you see a pedestrian crossing the road, whether they're doing the right thing or the wrong thing, you've got a duty of care to, if at all possible, avoid hitting them," he said.
"Part of the whole defensive driving regime is to look out at what could be happening on the footpaths alongside and between parked vehicles as you're driving along and be prepared for unpredictable type actions.
"Eye contact [and] acknowledging the presence of each other can make a big difference so that at least each of you is aware and can sometimes take a better, informed decision."
He also sounded out a warning to drivers in the coming months, with more pedestrians expected in Adelaide's CBD and at night due to the upcoming Fringe festival and Adelaide 500 events.
A fire broke out this morning at a historic church just outside Centerville before worshippers made their way to Sunday morning services.
It happened just before 6 AM.