President Donald Trump’s White House announced an update to its policy on arms transfers to promote US exports and jobs, and specifically to loosen the rules on selling unmanned warplanes.

Trump’s chief trade advisor, Peter Navarro, said the move was designed to reverse former president Barack Obama’s “myopic” decision to limit even US allies’ access to drone technology.

Allowing US arms firms to directly market drones instead of forcing foreign customers to apply to the government would, he said, allow them to compete against sales of Chinese “knock-offs.”

“The administration’s UAS export policy will level the playing field by enabling US firms to increase their direct sales to authorized allies and partners,” he said, referring to “Unmanned Aerial Systems”.

Navarro said US weapons and aerospace exports are worth a trillion dollars a year, support 2.5 million well-paid jobs and form a key plank of Trump’s ambition to wipe out America’s trade deficit.

But he said the market for drones alone could grow to $50 billion in a decade and that officials are “seeing Chinese replicas of American UAS technology deployed on the runways in the Middle East.”

As an example, he cited China’s Wing Loong 2 medium-altitude, long-endurance drone.

This reconnaissance and missile platform was on display to potential clients at the 2017 Paris Air Show but is, he said, “a clear knock-off” of US firm General Atomics’ MQ-9 Reaper.

“The fact is our allies and partners want to buy American,” Navarro said, noting that Trump was putting his “America First” slogan at the heart of arms sales policy.

– Drone assassins –

“Partners who procure American weaponry are more capable of fighting alongside us, and are also more capable of protecting themselves with fewer American boots on the ground.”

The United States pioneered the use of unmanned aircraft, some of them flown by pilots half-a-world away through satellite links to a ground station, for spotting missions and missile strikes.

They have been deployed both by the US military in support of overt deployments in the so-called war on terror and by the CIA for covert targeted strikes to kill suspected militants.

Critics of their deployment say that, because they can be used without putting American pilots in harm’s way, they encourage commanders and presidents to resort more easily to lethal force.

Despite the accuracy of missiles guided by drone-mounted lasers, many hundreds and perhaps thousands of civilians have been killed in US strikes in South Asia, the Middle East and the Horn of Africa.

But US officials defend the technology, arguing that its proper use allows commanders to study targets more carefully and to carry out precision raids, minimizing the threat to allies and civilians.

“We have been very, very focused… on trying to give our partners, our strategic partners overseas, the ability to avoid civilian casualties,” senior US diplomat Tina Kaidanow said.

In publishing the new regulations, the White House did not identify any possible new clients for US drones.

But the announcement came shortly after a three-week US tour and arms buying spree by de facto Saudi ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose forces lead a coalition supporting Yemen’s government against Iran-backed rebels.

The White House has been criticized by both global rights watchdogs and US Congress lawmakers from both parties for allowing its Saudi ally to bomb Yemen, where the coalition has been criticized over civilian casualties.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia is already one of the United States’ main arms clients, and it is part-way through making good on what Trump dubbed last year in Riyadh a $110 billion deal.

The report in the Journal of Child and Family Studies tallied mass shootings — events when at least one shooter intentionally killed or injured at least four others — and death tolls at US schools for children and teens aged five to 18, going back to 1940.

The study excluded gang shootings and any shootings that occurred at universities.

“The United States had no mass school shootings that fit our criteria until 1940, when a junior high school principal killed the superintendent, the high school principal, the district business manager, and two teachers, before attempting suicide, because he thought he was going to be fired at the end of the school year,” said the report.

Researchers found no mass school shootings in the 1950s and 1960s, followed by “a steady increase beginning with a school shooting in 1979 orchestrated by a 16-year-old female with mental health issues who began shooting at an elementary school, killing two adults and injuring eight students and one adult,” it said.

Since then, the 1990s were a peak period when 36 people were killed in 13 gun rampages, said the report.

From 2000-2018, researchers counted 66 deaths across 22 mass shootings at schools.

That’s higher than the death toll of 55 in 22 mass school shootings spanning the six decades from 1940-1999, it said.

“In less than 18 years, we have already seen more deaths related to school shootings than in the whole 20th century,” said lead author Antonis Katsiyannis of Clemson University.

“One alarming trend is that the overwhelming majority of 21st-century shooters were adolescents, suggesting that it is now easier for them to access guns, and that they more frequently suffer from mental health issues or limited conflict resolution skills.”

Sixty percent of mass school shootings in the United States in the 20th century were perpetrated by adolescents, aged 11-18.

So far this century, 77 percent of the mass school shootings have been carried out by adolescents.

The study cautioned that the death tolls and number of shootings offered no clear link to “more adolescent problems or high-powered weapons as a causality,” but said “the trends must be noted.”

US gun violence is an “epidemic that must be addressed,” concluded the study, urging expanded background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and expanded support for addressing mental health issues.

School shootings comprise just a fraction of the more than 30,000 gun-related deaths annually in the United States.

The facility, owned by Nguyen Thi Loan, was raided by local police and food inspectors on Monday afternoon following tip-offs from residents who were suspicious about the activities being conducted on the premises.

According to authorities, 12 tons of the “dirty'”coffee were seized during the raid.

Some other raw materials used in production were also found. They included 35kg of black powder extracted from used batteries and a bucket of black liquid weighing around 10kg.

The owner told police she would buy rejected coffee beans from other facilities at low prices. The beans would then be ground and mixed with other “ingredients” such as dirt and rock dust. Finally, the mixture would be dyed black.

Loan admitted that her factory has been in operation for years and that she has sold over three tons of her “coffee” on the market this year.

Police have taken samples of the coffee for lab tests, Tuoi Tre News said.

Associate Professor Tran Hong Con, a chemistry expert from the Vietnam National University, said the black substance found in D batteries is a toxic chemical called manganese dioxide.

Manganese dioxide is a high oxidant compound, and as little as 0.5 milligrams of it mixed in a litre of water is enough to cause manganese poisoning in humans, Prof Con told Tuoi Tre News.

Manganese poisoning, also known as manganism, can cause brain damage after prolonged exposure. It was a condition common among manganese ore miners in the 19th century. The poisoning is irreversible and can lead to hallucinations and death.

Other heavy metals commonly found in batteries such as lead, mercury, zinc, cadmium and arsenic are also extremely toxic; they can damage one’s brain, kidney, cardiovascular system and fertility if consumed, Tuoi Tre News said.

Brazil, Colombia and Ethiopia are among the world’s largest coffee producer.  Vietnam is fast catching up with a reported 2.6 million people in the country employed by coffee manufacturers.

During the 1990s, coffee production across the country grew around 20 to 30 per cent each year, according to Newsweek.

Deputy national police chief Pol General Srivara Rangsibhramanakul said on Thursday that while prostitution is legal in Germany sex workers have to have a work permit.

Srivara said he had already assigned the Foreign Affairs and AntiHuman Trafficking divisions to seek more information about Wednesday’s nationwide raids.

The divisions were also ordered to examine all aspects to know who was involved in the racket. The guilty people would certainly be severely punished, Srivara said.

Meanwhile, Pol General Thammasak Witchayara, chairman of the subcommittee on anti-transnational human trafficking, said the Thai side would contact Germany to know details about the crackdown.

Thai and German police have been cooperating in tackling human trafficking, Thammasak said, adding his side is considering sending police officers to Germany as some Thais were detained in the case.

It is not yet known how many Thais have been detained in the crackdown, which involved a record 15,000 officers raiding more than 60 brothels and flats in 12 of Germany’s 16 states. Prosecutors have 56 suspects in their sights, 41 of them women.

Among the arrested were seven people suspected of having been leaders in the ring, one of them a 59-year-old Thai woman who was identified as leader of the crime network that smuggled Thai women and transsexuals to Germany with fraudulent visas for forced prostitution.

The woman and her 62yearold German partner were taken into custody on outstanding arrest warrants. The rest of the detainees could be treated as victims.

The women brought to Germany “had to hand over 100 per cent of their wages to the operators of the respective ‘massage parlours’ to pay off their smuggling fee”, ranging from 16,000 euros (Bt640,000) to 36,000 euros, AFP quoted Alexander Badle, spokesman for the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office, as saying. He said that other than human trafficking, forced prostitution, procurement and embezzlement of wages, the ring leaders also face charges of tax evasion.

Some of the suspects could face up to 15 years in prison.

Germany’s Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that several hundred women and men were at the mercy of the inhumane, boundless greed of human smugglers for years and across borders.

He said that while the Thai victims were aware that they were being taken to German brothels, they were duped about the “conditions, including the fact that they would receive virtually no remuneration”.

They were brought to Europe on tourist visas that explicitly prohibited work, and spoke no German, leaving them particularly vulnerable to exploitation, Badle added.

He said immigration authorities would now examine the victims’ legal status to determine how long they could stay in Germany.

Taking a bite out of the plump arachnids has become a popular photo-op for squealing tourists who pass through Skun, the central Cambodian town nicknamed “Spiderville” for its massive market of creepy crawlers.

But the bulk of the clientele are locals who are there to load up on a traditional snack known as aping that vendors say is becoming scarce – and more expensive – as rapid development wipes out jungle habitats.

“Aping are famous in Cambodia but now they are not abundant, they have become rare,” Chea Voeun, a tarantula vendor, said from her stall where she sells other fried insects including crickets and scorpions.

A Cambodian woman frying tarantulas for tourists at Skun town in Kampong Cham province on March 14. Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP

Voeun, who has been selling the delicacy for 20 years, used to source the spiders from nearby forests, where hunters dug them out of burrows dotting the jungle floor.

But those trees have since been razed for cashew nut plantations, forcing Voeun and other vendors to rely on middlemen to procure the spiders, which are harvested from faraway forested provinces.

That has jacked up the price of the tarantulas to $1 a piece, a nearly tenfold spike over the past decade.

For now the price surge is helping line the pockets of vendors who can unload several hundred spiders a day, but they fear that stocks are running low and will kill their businesses in the long term.

“When the big forests disappear, these spiders will no longer exist,” said seller Lou Srey Sros, as tourists snapped pictures of children playing with the eight-legged creatures.

Locals say the spiders, whose taste has been compared to crab, are best prepared simply: dipped in salt and garlic and then tossed into a pan of sizzling oil.

Tarantulas have been part of the Cambodian diet for generations, prized for their purported medicinal qualities.

But they are believed to have cemented their place on the Cambodian palate during the brutal years under the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s.

The Maoist regime forced millions of Cambodians out of the cities and was ultimately responsible for murdering, overworking and starving to death nearly a quarter of the population in its drive to create an agrarian utopia. Famine pushed many to forage for any sustenance they could find, eating everything from rats to lizards and tarantulas.

While the Khmer Rouge’s devastating rule came to an end in 1979, spiders stayed on the menu. But the jungles which are home to them are now rapidly disappearing.

Cambodia has one of the fastest deforestation rates in the world, with huge swaths of forest cleared for rubber plantations and timber.

The Southeast Asian country has lost 20 percent of its forest cover since 1990, according to the conservation NGO Fauna and Flora International.

It is not just habitat loss but over-harvesting to meet a high demand that is driving the spiders out of existence, said Tom Gray, director of Science and Global Development for Wildlife Alliance.

“Across Southeast Asia it is unsustainable hunting in our forests rather than direct habitat loss which is causing the biggest impacts on biodiversity,” he said.

The tourist frenzy has helped fuel the tarantula trade, with busloads of travellers stopping in Skun to taste the unusual snack.

“It just makes me a little bit swimmy because that was not what I would eat at home but I am here so it’s time to try them,” Australian tourist Elisabeth Dark said after taking a bite of a spider leg.

But for many Cambodians, the only fear factor is that the treat will soon run out.

“The next generations may not know about them because these beasts have become so rare, not like before,” lamented vendor Lou Srey Sros.

“As more people clear [forests] to plant cashew nut trees, they will be gone.”//AFP

About 3,100 azalea are in bloom in the garden for several weeks.

High temperature rose to 22.2 centigrade in central Tokyo on 19 April, 6.2 degrees higher than previous day.

Guests at her wedding to Prince Harry will also have to be on best behaviour, abiding by the strict protocols that underpin the pomp and ceremony which give the family its worldwide appeal.

Here are the complex customs that Markle and her guests need to navigate, according to royal etiquette expert William Hanson.

– Bowing and curtseying –

When meeting royal family members, men are expected to bow from the neck and women curtsy, a formality that even world leaders have sometimes found a challenge.

“It is not a curtsey going right down to the floor because you may never get back up, it is a bob of the head, hands behind the sides, one foot behind the other. Bend of the knees, keeping your back straight,” explained Hanson.

Markle will be expected to quickly learn the protocol, with the help of courtiers and close family members.

If she is with Prince Harry, Markle takes on her husband’s status, with royals below Harry in seniority expected to curtsey before her.

“But if Meghan is walking down the corridor on her own and she bumps into Princess Beatrice, Beatrice is a blood royal and so Meghan will have to curtsey for Beatrice. It’s confusing,” Hanson said.

For novice royal watchers, there is a simple way of knowing who fits where in the royal hierarchy.

“You can sort of work it out by when people arrive at events,” said Hanson. “The less important you are, the earlier you arrive.”

 – Introductions –

Pop star Ed Sheeran gave an example of how not to greet a member of royalty when he recently placed his left hand on Prince Charles’s right arm as they shook hands.

“Don’t use your left hand, it just stays by your side,” said Hanson. “That was a breach of protocol”.

When talking to the Queen, she should be called “your majesty” at first, and then “ma’am”.

“It’s ma’am as in ham, not ma’am as in farm,” explained Hanson.

– Bridal attire –

Having been married already, speculation abounds as to whether Markle will wear a full bridal gown, or opt for less formal day dress.

“If it is a wedding dress, I don’t think it’s going to be big,” said Hanson.

Tiaras are only allowed for married women.

If Meghan is to wear one on the day after her vows, she would not be able to buy one herself. It would have to be a gift from the royal collection, unless she already has a family heirloom.

“A gift as in ‘we will have it back’,” he added.

Harry is expected to wear “morning dress”, which usually consists of a tailcoat, a bright waistcoat and tie, although he could wear his military uniform.

“Prince William in his military uniform in 2011, it looked beautiful, it was so Cinderella,” said Hanson.

 – Guest dress code –

The dress code on the invitation reads: “Uniform, Morning Coat, Lounge Suit, Day Dress with hat”.

The etiquette expert said it was “interesting” that the invitation had spelled out the need for a hat, pointing out some high profile faux pas from the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton.

Samantha Cameron, wife of then prime minister David Cameron, wore no hat, instead of wearing jewels in her hair.

“Reportedly she didn’t wear tights either, as the wife of a prime minister and the daughter of a baronet, she should know better.”

Football legend David Beckham was also guilty of multiple protocol breaches with his morning dress.

“The collar was wrong, it was a winged collar, it should have been a turned-down collar.

“And everything matched, it’s morning dress, not a morning suit.

“He was wearing a medal; he was wearing it on the wrong side and secondly the invitation did not say ‘with decorations’. He shouldn’t have worn it.”

– Hand holding? –

Harry and Meghan have been tactile during public engagements — unusual for royal family members.

“It will be interesting to see whether Harry and Meghan continue to hold hands at official engagements,” said Hanson.

“It’s just not a British thing, it’s a form of emotion and in Britain we normally show emotion to dogs and horses.”//AFP

Long seen as the pillar of one of America’s most prominent families, as wife to the 41st US president and mother to the 43rd, Barbara Bush died Tuesday at her home in Texas aged 92, surrounded by her family.

Her 93-year-old husband, who was at her side until the end, holding her hand, was said to be heart-broken at the loss of “his beloved Barbara.”

But on Wednesday the ex-commander-in-chief struck a resolutely stoical tone.

“I always knew Barbara as the most beloved woman in the world,” he wrote in a statement. “In fact I used to tease her that I had a complex about that fact.”

“But the truth is the outpouring of love and friendship being directed at The Enforcer is lifting us all up,” he said, using a fond nickname coined by the Bush clan for their matriarch.

“We know life will go on — as she would have it,” he added. “So cross the Bushes off your worry list.”

Known for her trademark faux pearls and tart-tongued comments about life in and out of Washington — but also her deep loyalty to family and self-deprecating humor — Barbara Bush was in many ways a figure more popular among ordinary Americans than her high-flying husband and sons.

President Donald Trump lent his voice to the chorus celebrating a departed national treasure.

“For decades Barbara was a titan in American life,” and a “tireless champion for literacy,” he told a press conference in Florida.

“Her presence and character were engraved into America’s identity. Her strength and toughness really embodied the spirit of our country,” Trump said, speaking alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who also offered his country’s “heartfelt condolences.”

Having undergone heart surgery in 2009, Bush was treated for years for Graves’ disease, a thyroid condition. As her health failed in recent days, she was moved into comfort care at her home in Houston.

Son George W. Bush, who won the White House eight years after his father left it, told Fox Business that he took solace from “her soul being comforted on her deathbed.”

“It’s the end of a beautiful life,” he said.

Barbara Bush is survived by five children, 17 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She lost a sixth child — daughter Robin — to leukemia as a toddler.

She will be laid to rest in Texas after a memorial ceremony Saturday in Houston, to be attended by First Lady Melania Trump, former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, and the former vice president Dick Cheney and his wife Lynne.

Former president Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary were also reportedly due to attend.

Trump ordered flags to fly at half-staff at all public buildings and military posts in Bush’s honor.

‘Grit and grace’ 

Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum, including from the Obamas who voiced gratitude “to Mrs Bush for the generosity she showed to us throughout our time in the White House.”

“But we’re even more grateful for the way she lived her life — as a testament to the fact that public service is an important and noble calling; as an example of the humility and decency that reflects the very best of the American spirit.”

Bill Clinton, who succeeded Bush’s husband in office, described her as “a remarkable woman” who brought together “grit and grace, brains and beauty.”

“She showed us what an honest, vibrant, full life looks like.”

Barbara met her husband-to-be at age 16 when she was a schoolgirl and he was a student at an elite Massachusetts preparatory school. They married in 1945 while he was on leave from wartime service.

She made history as one of just two women to be wife and mother to two US presidents. Abigail Adams, who died in 1818, was the other.

Her son Jeb, a two-term Florida governor who also ran for president, hailed “the exceptionally gracious, gregarious, fun, funny, loving, tough, smart, graceful woman who was the force of nature known as Barbara Bush.”

Barbara Bush was her husband’s companion and advisor, traveling the world as he rose from Texas oilman to congressman, US ambassador to China, director of the CIA and eventually to the vice presidency and the White House.

But she avoided direct involvement in politics, and the posturing that comes with it — gaining a reputation for toughness, wry humor and straight-speaking.

“I’m not running for president; George Bush is,” she said at the 1988 Republican National Convention. “What you see with me is what you get.”

The province has been implementing a 15-day or 21-day visa waiver policy for group visitors from 26 countries since 2010. Under the new policy, individuals from 59 countries can visit the province for 30 days visa-free as long as they book their tour through travel agencies.

Countries benefiting from the policy include Russia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, Ukraine, Italy, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, Ireland, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and the UAE.