National Security-
By Julian Hattem -
Clinton's IT aide keeps email server shrouded in mystery
A former State Department IT expert has refused to answer questions about his work on Hillary Clinton’s private email server, keeping its operations shrouded in mystery.
Bryan Pagliano’s laywers have said that he would remain silent during a deposition with the conservative watchdog Judicial Watch, originally scheduled for Monday but now delayed until further notice.
His decision increases the odds that Clinton herself will be forced to testify in the case.
Unlike in a criminal case, judges in civil cases such as Judicial Watch’s can draw inferences about someone’s guilt from a witness’s decision to plead their rights under the Fifth Amendment. For lawyers, there’s a reason to go through the motions and ask questions, even if the response is the same over and over again.
Staying silent “can be used against you,” said Peter Toren, a former federal prosecutor and partner at Weisbrod Matteis & Copley.
“It’s extremely tedious, but the fact that [a witness] took the Fifth is an inference that what I’m asking is true,” said Toren.
So even if Pagliano doesn’t say a word during the deposition, he will impact the case moving forward.
“His doing that in this context tells you something about the purpose of the system, potentially, and what was going on and whether it was a good faith issue — a matter of just folks making honest mistakes — or something more nefarious,” Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch’s head, told The Hill. “We do learn something from this, no matter what. It’s not a pro forma process. It’s not just an exercise in futility.”
“In certain circumstances, the witness taking the Fifth Amendment, you can draw some negative conclusions based on that about the State Department’s conduct, and the agency’s head — the State Department’s head —which is Mrs. Clinton,” he added.
The open records lawsuit launched by Judicial Watch is aimed at determining whether Clinton and her top staffers thwarted the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) through her use of a personal email address and private server at her New York home.
Pagliano is believed to have set up and maintained the private server, and is likely the one man with a detailed understanding of how it worked and why.
His continued silence has fueled months of speculation about how Clinton’s email was set up, its digital security and whether it was designed to thwart transparency laws.
For Clinton, that means no relief from a political headache that has dogged her campaign for more than a year.
On Friday, Judge Emmet Sullivan postponed the testimony, in response to a request from Pagliano’s lawyers to prohibit a videotaped recording of the deposition. The judge demanded that the lawyers file a memorandum outlining the legal authority for him to plead the Fifth.
In an order last month in the Judicial Watch case, Sullivan said that Clinton could be deposed to answer questions about her server setup, depending in part on the testimony of Pagliano and six other people from her time at the State Department.
Assuming Pagliano stays quiet, the odds that she will appear go up.
“I can’t envision a scenario in which Judicial Watch doesn’t utilize this decision by Pagliano to take that next step and actually ask for Secretary Clinton to be deposed,” said Bradley Moss, a national security lawyer.
Still, an order from the judge for Clinton to testify is far from certain.
Lawyers for the Clinton and the Obama administration have made clear they don’t think the Democratic presidential front-runner’s testimony is necessary. And Clinton has given little indication that she understood anything but the most basic details of her email arrangement, making her value as a witness debatable.
“I still think they’ll have a lot of difficulty convincing Sullivan to take that step,” said Moss.
“I never would have given it more than a 15, 20 percent chance,” he said. “If the Pagliano decision had any impact, it made it go from 20 percent to 25 percent, just because it gave that small additional opening of justification that the person who actually did it — who actually was running it — refused to testify. Therefore, the only person left is the secretary.”
Fitton declined to discuss the odds of Clinton’s testifying when asked by The Hill.
Judicial Watch has asked for Clinton’s deposition in a separate but similar open records case connected to the former secretary of State’s emails.
But the Justice Department has pushed back, accusing the watchdog group of trying to expand the scope the lawsuit and of jumping the gun by refusing to wait out the depositions in the first case.
Clinton’s deposition in either case would surely turn into a media spectacle, and would loom large over the presidential campaign. For more than a year, her campaign has been unable to quell the criticism about her private server, which was amplified last week when an Inspector General report found her email arrangement broke federal rules.
Multiple lawyers contacted by The Hill said they were not surprised by Pagliano’s decision not to talk to Judicial Watch on Monday.
The IT expert had previously asserted his Fifth Amendment rights before the House Select Committee on Benghazi and reportedly had been granted immunity as part of the FBI’s investigation of possible mishandling of classified information related to the server.
Having him speak could jeopardize that deal, expose him to new legal risk or damage his future employment prospects, lawyers speculated.
“We don’t know what the scope of the immunity that Mr. Pagliano received was,” said Paul Charlton, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson and former U.S. attorney. “I suspect that whatever that immunity was — if he was in fact given immunity in the criminal investigation — may not exactly match the concerns that may come about in a FOIA civil lawsuit.”
Sullivan ordered details of the immunity agreement to be handed over as part of the memorandum that Pagliano’s lawyers file in coming days, which may shed light on the matter.
In any case, he appears unlikely to change his tune.
“Your chief concerns as counsel is to make sure you do everything you can to protect your client where the stakes are highest,” added Henry Hockeimer, a former federal prosecutor now at Ballard Spahr.
“In this case, it’s the criminal investigation.”
Pollution from coal plants a big threat to the Sundarbans mangrove forest!
ANJAN KUMAR SAMAL
Media reports indicate that Orion has approached the Ex-Im Bank for funding for these harmful coal plants in Bangladesh. The bank's support for these projects would grease the wheels for coal development abroad, while back at home the US moves away from this dirty fuel.
The Sundarbans in Bangladesh - a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a safe haven for endangered tigers and dolphins is under serious threat.
Orion Group, a Bangladeshi conglomerate, is trying to build two new coal-fired power plants. One would be dangerously close to the rich and irreplaceable ecosystem of the Sundarbans mangrove forest, which sustains the livelihoods of over 500,000 people and is home to the Ganges river dolphin, whose population has dwindled to just about 1,500 worldwide. The other plant would be right outside the country's densely-populated capital, polluting the Dhaka air with coal ash and other toxins.
The Paris climate agreement, which the United States joined more than 150 other countries in signing, commits the international community to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. As a low-lying nation, climate change poses grave risks to Bangladesh in the form of rising seas and stronger storms.
The Ex-Im Bank's support for these projects would betray the international climate agreement by funneling taxpayer dollars into dirty coal plants that threaten the habitats of endangered species, a precious ecosystem, and the wellbeing of millions of people. Instead, the bank must be part of the just energy transition and invest in renewables that will help increase access to electricity worldwide and won't harm our environment.
Don't export our pollution to Bangladesh! The proposed Orion Khulna coal plant would gravely damage the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, threaten the human rights of thousands of local people, and contribute to runaway climate change. In addition, the Orion coal plant proposed to be built near Dhaka threatens the air and water of 17 million people. We urge you to publicly reject funding both of these projects.
The Sundarbans in Bangladesh - the world's largest mangrove forest, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a safe haven for the endangered Bengal tiger - is under serious threat from Big Coal.
Orion Group, a Bangladeshi conglomerate with a history of corruption allegations, is building two coal-fired power plants. One plant's infrastructure and emissions would have devastating impacts on the World Heritage site as it is located right by the Sundarbans. The other plant would be located right outside the capital, Dhaka, a metropolitan area home to 17 million people.
Building coal plants on the forest's fringes means abusing the rights of the thousands of people, who live near and depend on the Sundarbans. Locals are displaced from their land and deprived of their livelihoods. Fierce citizen opposition to the projects has been ignored at best, suppressed at worst. And yet, Orion has already started construction - before receiving formal environmental clearance!
What's more, Orion has possibly approached the U.S. Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank, a government agency that has already used billions of taxpayer dollars to finance fossil fuel projects abroad, for funding for these harmful coal plants in Bangladesh. U.S. Ex-Im Bank's support for these projects would grease the wheels for coal development abroad, while domestically the U.S. moves away from this dirty fuel. Not to mention, these deals would call into question U.S Ex-Im Bank's commitment to its own policies on climate change and human rights.
The U.S. Ex-Im Bank must not funnel taxpayer dollars into dirty coal plants dangerously close to a unique biodiversity hotspot and a major population center. It is a betrayal of the Paris climate agreement, where just months ago the United States joined the rest of the world in committing to keeping global warming under 1.5 degrees Celsius.
U.S. Ex-Im Bank must be part of the just energy transition and invest in renewables that will help increase access to electricity and won't harm our environment. Tell the U.S. Ex-Im Bank: Don't finance dangerous coal projects in Bangladesh! Publicly reject financing for coal projects that threaten world treasures like the Sundarbans and pollute the air of millions!India, Qatar to share intel to combat hawala, terror financing
From Ajay Kaul
Doha, Jun 5 (PTI) Pledging to take their relationship to new heights, India and Qatar today agreed to work together to check terror financing and illegal financial transactions as they signed seven pacts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Qatari firms to "grab" vast opportunities in India.
At the end of wide-ranging talks, Modi had with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the leadership here, the two sides highlighted the need to "isolate" the sponsors and supporters of terrorism and agreed that urgent action against all such entities, which support terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy, must be taken.
The two sides decided to take the relationship beyond a trading one to that of partnership by exploring the possibility of joint investments and agreed to set up a high-level ministerial committee to chart the future path.
Modi also took up with the Qatari leadership the issue of the welfare of Indian community, which is about 6.5 lakh strong, and received assurance about their security.
With Qatar being the largest source of India's LNG needs, the two sides agreed to focus on enhancing cooperation in energy, covering the areas of training and human resources development and cooperation in research and development and through promotion of joint ventures in petrochemical complexes and cooperation in joint exploration in India and other countries.
The Indian side highlighted the interest of its energy companies to pursue opportunities of mutual interest in Qatar, with Qatar Petroleum and other companies, in order to jointly explore new fields as well as develop discovered oil and gas assets and exploit the existing resources of natural gas and crude oil in Qatar.
Modi, before winding up his two-day visit here, expressed confidence that the bilateral relations will get "new strength" through the agreements signed.
After the talks, the two sides signed seven MoUs, including one on sharing of information between Financial Intelligence Units for sharing of intelligence on illegal movement of money, termed as 'hawala'.
The agreement is aimed at checking terror financing, hawala money as well as other sources of illegal financial transactions, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha said.
"The two sides further agreed to take action against illegal transfer of money," a joint statement issued after the talks said.
There is a lot of money flow and investment from Qatar. A number of black money investigations have taken Indian authorities to Qatar's shores and such an MoU is seen as a move to help combat money offences. .
Doha, Jun 5 (PTI) Pledging to take their relationship to new heights, India and Qatar today agreed to work together to check terror financing and illegal financial transactions as they signed seven pacts with Prime Minister Narendra Modi inviting Qatari firms to "grab" vast opportunities in India.
At the end of wide-ranging talks, Modi had with Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and the leadership here, the two sides highlighted the need to "isolate" the sponsors and supporters of terrorism and agreed that urgent action against all such entities, which support terrorism and use it as an instrument of policy, must be taken.
The two sides decided to take the relationship beyond a trading one to that of partnership by exploring the possibility of joint investments and agreed to set up a high-level ministerial committee to chart the future path.
Modi also took up with the Qatari leadership the issue of the welfare of Indian community, which is about 6.5 lakh strong, and received assurance about their security.
With Qatar being the largest source of India's LNG needs, the two sides agreed to focus on enhancing cooperation in energy, covering the areas of training and human resources development and cooperation in research and development and through promotion of joint ventures in petrochemical complexes and cooperation in joint exploration in India and other countries.
The Indian side highlighted the interest of its energy companies to pursue opportunities of mutual interest in Qatar, with Qatar Petroleum and other companies, in order to jointly explore new fields as well as develop discovered oil and gas assets and exploit the existing resources of natural gas and crude oil in Qatar.
Modi, before winding up his two-day visit here, expressed confidence that the bilateral relations will get "new strength" through the agreements signed.
After the talks, the two sides signed seven MoUs, including one on sharing of information between Financial Intelligence Units for sharing of intelligence on illegal movement of money, termed as 'hawala'.
The agreement is aimed at checking terror financing, hawala money as well as other sources of illegal financial transactions, Secretary (Economic Relations) in the External Affairs Ministry Amar Sinha said.
"The two sides further agreed to take action against illegal transfer of money," a joint statement issued after the talks said.
There is a lot of money flow and investment from Qatar. A number of black money investigations have taken Indian authorities to Qatar's shores and such an MoU is seen as a move to help combat money offences. .
Markets &policy
In the next 15 years, Texas expects to add somewhere between 14 and 27 gigawatts of solar capacity, according to a new long-term system assessment from the state’s grid operator, ERCOT.
ERCOT is considering eight different scenarios, such as continued low natural-gas prices or extreme weather. Under all scenarios, solar makes up nearly all of the new capacity. In all of the scenarios, ERCOT assumes that changes to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s regional haze rule will go into effect. Those changes are expected to make the rule more stringent and impact power producers with emissions that affect air quality.
As more solar energy comes on-line, coal will retire. About 5 gigawatts of coal are expected to go offline in the next five years because of the regional haze rule, according to ERCOT’s assessment. Even without the regional haze rule, some coal will retire anyway.
Natural gas is now the dominant electric generation source in Texas and could see some retirement as well, although the facilities that will retire are mostly older steam units that will be shut down due to age, rather than environmental rules or market conditions.
By 2031, natural gas would make up slightly less than half of the capacity in Texas, while solar jumps from about 3 percent to about 17 percent. Wind, solar and other forms of electricity capacity were expected to stay roughly the same. In 2015, Texas ranked ninth in U.S. PV installations, according to GTM Research.
The drop in coal and increase in solar could bring about something that resembles a duck-curve situation in Texas. The duck curve shows the gap between the total load a utility serves and what that load looks like after wind and solar generation serve some of that load. The duck curve in Texas would look more like a lean duck than the plump sitting duck that California’s grid operator has forecasted.
With considerably more solar, the capacity shortage is expected from about 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in Texas. But there is one scenario among the eight that could alleviate that: a high-storage scenario.
With falling costs, storage may sound like a no-brainer, but nothing is a no-brainer in ERCOT territory. “ERCOT is like the Wild West,” Randa Stephenson, VP of wholesale markets at Lower Colorado River Authority, said during Bloomberg New Energy Summit earlier this year.
For years, Texas had low reserve margins, but the situation has been looking up lately. ERCOT says it has added on enough new wind, solar and natural gas capacity for the coming years to wade out of dangerous waters when it comes to its reserve margins. Furthermore, the future demand forecast has been lowered overall.
But the beefier capacity margins expected in coming years did not take into account the approximately 6 gigawatts of retirements due to the regional haze rule. The current long-term planning also doesn’t take into account the Clean Power Plan, which has been stayed by the Supreme Court. If the CPP moves ahead, ERCOT has modeled that up to 9 gigawatts of coal could be retired.
There are some other potential factors that could impact more generation or more storage, all of which could address the change in generation mix forecasted in Texas. The state now has a price cap of $9,000 per megawatt-hour when capacity is tight, but it rarely hits that mark.
There is also a relatively new operating demand curve, less than two years old, which is meant to ratchet prices up more as demand increases, but it has been ineffectual so far. It is currently being re-evaluated in hopes of making changes that will allow it to be more effective. Those changes are meant to incentivize new generation or more demand response, although it’s unclear whether they will.
Another change that would incentivize distributed energy resources such as demand response and batteries are the reforms proposed by ERCOT’s Distributed Resource Energy & Ancillaries Market Task Force. The task force was recently disbanded, but there is more work being done to integrate distributed resources into the energy markets.
And it may not be distributed resources that would address a duck curve in Texas given the sloth-like pace of significant market rule changes. Instead, utility-owned energy storage could be a more prevalent solution if it requires less market innovation. Fifteen years is a lifetime in clean energy, however, so the solution to meet the problem in 2030 could look very different from the options today
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अब अमेरिका में आसानी से कदम रख सकेंगे भारतीय
वाशिंगटन। भारतीयों के लिए अब अमेरिका में प्रवेश करना आसान बनाया जा रहा है। दोनों देशों ने आपसी सहमति के ज्ञापन (एमओयू) पर हस्ताक्षर किए हैं। इस एमओयू के लागू होने के बाद अमेरिका के चुने हुए हवाई अड्डे पर यात्रा की पहले ही अनुमति ले चुके संदेह मुक्त भारतीय यात्रियों को त्वरित सुरक्षा क्लीयरेंस मुहैया कराया जा सकेगा। एमओयू पर अमेरिका में भारत के राजदूत अरुण के सिंह और अमेरिकी सीमा शुल्क एवं सीमा सुरक्षा विभाग के उपायुक्त केविन के मैक अलीनन ने हस्ताक्षर किए हैं।
भारत ऐसा नौवां देश है जिसके साथ अमेरिका ने अंतरराष्ट्रीय त्वरित यात्रा पहल (ग्लोबल इंट्री प्रोग्राम) में कदम रखा है। यह दुनिया के दो बड़े लोकतांत्रिक देशों के बीच रिश्तों के विकास को भी प्रतिध्वनित करता है। इस कदम के लागू होने में कुछ माह लगेंगे।
एमओयू हस्ताक्षर समारोह में भारतीय राजदूत ने कहा, "इस कार्यक्रम के तहत भारतीय यात्रियों की राह आसान करने से यात्रा का माहौल सामान्य बनेगा। इससे दोनों देशों के लोगों के बीच हर तरह के संपर्क पर सकारात्मक प्रभाव पड़ेगा।"
- See more at: http://naidunia.jagran.com/world-now-indian-can-easily-enter-in-america-751890#sthash.vDxfVu02.dpufChina pays rich tributes to Muhammad Ali
From K J M Varma
Beijing, Jun 4 (PTI) China's sporting fraternity on Saturday paid rich tributes to Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight boxing legend and civil rights champion who passed away in the United States after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.
Ali, the world's most-loved and known sporting hero, visited China in 1979 and then again in 1985. He was greeted with unbound love wherever he went.
During his 1979 China visit, Ali was greeted by then Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping, who said to him: "You have deep feelings toward China. Very welcome to China and have a look around."
"Boxing can also be a bridge which enhances mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and American people," Deng had said.
Ali's motto - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - is well-known in China and he was hailed as a beacon to Chinese youth chasing their sporting dreams.
"He is an icon and a great man," said China's first-ever WBC champion Xiong Chaozhong. "He taught us how to fight, how to overcome hardships."
Xiong recalled a meeting with Ali's wife, Lonnie.
"Ali's wife came to see me in a press conference after I won the WBC title on November 24, 2012, telling me that Mr Ali wanted me to be his student because he had promised Deng Xiaoping that he would teach China's first professional champion if there would be one," Xiong told state-run Xinhua news agency.
China's two-time Olympic champion boxer Zou Shiming tearfully mourned the passing of Ali, vowing to win a professional title to honour the legendary boxer.
"I planned to go visit my idol Mr Muhammad Ali after winning a professional bout. But now, I can only pray he is at peace in heaven, and free from illness and pain," the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion posted on his Weibo account.
In a tearful interview, Zou said: "I am deeply grieving over the passing of the legend Mr Ali, for whom I have great respect. He has been a great inspiration to me."
Chinese boxer Yang Lianhui hailed Ali as one of the most transformative persons in history.
"Both Chinese boxing and world boxing benefitted from Muhammad Ali's talents," said Yang.
"He was influential both in and out of sports. He fought against injustice and sacrificed prime years of his own career in the process.
Beijing, Jun 4 (PTI) China's sporting fraternity on Saturday paid rich tributes to Muhammad Ali, the heavyweight boxing legend and civil rights champion who passed away in the United States after a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease.
Ali, the world's most-loved and known sporting hero, visited China in 1979 and then again in 1985. He was greeted with unbound love wherever he went.
During his 1979 China visit, Ali was greeted by then Chinese vice-premier Deng Xiaoping, who said to him: "You have deep feelings toward China. Very welcome to China and have a look around."
"Boxing can also be a bridge which enhances mutual understanding and friendship between Chinese and American people," Deng had said.
Ali's motto - "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" - is well-known in China and he was hailed as a beacon to Chinese youth chasing their sporting dreams.
"He is an icon and a great man," said China's first-ever WBC champion Xiong Chaozhong. "He taught us how to fight, how to overcome hardships."
Xiong recalled a meeting with Ali's wife, Lonnie.
"Ali's wife came to see me in a press conference after I won the WBC title on November 24, 2012, telling me that Mr Ali wanted me to be his student because he had promised Deng Xiaoping that he would teach China's first professional champion if there would be one," Xiong told state-run Xinhua news agency.
China's two-time Olympic champion boxer Zou Shiming tearfully mourned the passing of Ali, vowing to win a professional title to honour the legendary boxer.
"I planned to go visit my idol Mr Muhammad Ali after winning a professional bout. But now, I can only pray he is at peace in heaven, and free from illness and pain," the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion posted on his Weibo account.
In a tearful interview, Zou said: "I am deeply grieving over the passing of the legend Mr Ali, for whom I have great respect. He has been a great inspiration to me."
Chinese boxer Yang Lianhui hailed Ali as one of the most transformative persons in history.
"Both Chinese boxing and world boxing benefitted from Muhammad Ali's talents," said Yang.
"He was influential both in and out of sports. He fought against injustice and sacrificed prime years of his own career in the process.
Pakistan downplays scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's boastful nuclear remark (PTI)
NAGPUR: Pakistan today sought to downplay its nuclear physicist Abdul Qadeer Khan's remarks about his country's reported capability to hit Delhi in five minutes, saying he is a private citizen and too much should not be read into his remarks.
He is a private citizen and too much importance should not be given to his comments, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said at an interactive session with journalists and intellectuals here.
Scientists Find Zika Might Be Transmitted by Oral Sex
There's one possible case of it happening in France
It’s possible the Zika virus can be transmitted by oral sex, scientists said in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.
In a case reported in France, a 24-year-old woman was infected with the virus after having sex with a 46-year-old man who had just returned to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, a hot zone for Zika, the New York Times reported. The pair had sex several times between Feb. 11 and Feb. 20, involving vaginal sex without ejaculation and oral sex with ejaculation. The woman became ill on Feb. 20, and both were tested on Feb. 23, the Times reported.
While the test results showed the man had high levels of the virus in his semen and urine, he had none in his blood or saliva. The woman, on the other hand, had the virus in her urine and saliva, but a vaginal swab tested negative.
Read more: 10 Zika Facts You Need to Know Now
Scientists had already confirmed cases of sexually transmitted Zika, leading the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention to release guidelines on prevention in February.
“I don’t think this changes anything, but it shows you how elaborate the number of avenues of possible transmission can be,” said Dr. William Schaffner, head of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical School, in an interview with the Times.
COAL MINING NEWS
Over 100 Miners Rescued After Underground Fire
A total of 103 miners were working in the Zarechnaya mine at the time.
Some 51 of them were led to the surface within minutes, but initial reports said more than 50 were trapped underground.
But rescuers were able to control the fire and bring the rest of the miners to safety.
According to initial reports, four of the rescued miners were taken to the hospital with trauma and smoke inhalation.
The Zarechnaya mine is located in the Kemerovo region in Western Siberia.
It was opened in 1953 and is currently the largest owned by the Zarechnaya coal mining company.
The fire happened days after the company pledged to make extra efforts to prevent accidents at the mine.
Miss World New Zealand has been crowned
Miss World New Zealand
Karla de Beer will represent New Zealand in Miss World
Our newest Miss World New Zealand has been crowned after a glamour filled evening in Auckland on Saturday night.
Karla de Beer, Miss Auckland, took out the title "Miss World NZ 2016" and was awarded the crown from 2015 winner Debora Lambie.
Beaming, the 22-year-old University of Auckland graduate, took her first walk as winner in front of the crowd at the Sky City Convention Centre.
MISS WORLD NZ
Karla de Beer was crowned Miss World NZ 2016, along side runners up Jess Tyson, left, and Cosmiana Brown, right.
Cheering her on was first runner-up Jessica Tyson and second runner up Cosmiana Brown, among other contestants.
READ MORE:
* Top beauty pageant mistakes and controversies
* Life inside a Miss World pageant
* Beauty pageants gaining popularity in New Zealand
* Top beauty pageant mistakes and controversies
* Life inside a Miss World pageant
* Beauty pageants gaining popularity in New Zealand
De Beer took out the Miss Auckland competition in September, beating, among others, Max Key's former girlfriend Amelia Finlayson.
On her Miss Auckland profile, de Beer said she has hopes of starting her own makeup business or becoming a clinical psychologist.
"There are so many opportunities out there, I want to make the most of all of them and live life to the fullest!"
The pageant is a non-profit organisation that spreads the message of "beauty with a purpose" - each of the contestants are affiliated with various different charities.
De Deer chosen charity was New Zealand Riding for the Disabled: "As I love the outdoors and have a huge soft spot for horses, having ridden since I was 12."
"I have loved being a part of the Totara Park Riding for the Disabled club, getting involved with learning how to practically deal with the problems children with physical and mental disabilities face, and how to help them improve on the skills they need to overcome these difficulties," she said.
Miss World New Zealand is an annual beauty pageant that seeks an ambassador to represent New Zealand on the global Miss World stage.
The run up to the pageant includes at least 12 weeks of workshops - including social media, catwalk and leadership training - held each Saturday prior to the pageant.
Japan's deadly log-riding festival
Thousands of people attended an ancient Japanese festival where log riders storm down a hill on a tree trunk.
Thousands watch on as men risk their lives sliding down hills on tree trunks as part of an ancient Japanese festival.
The Onbashira festival, also known as Sacred Pillars, dates back more than 1200 years and is held every six years in the Suwa, Nagano.
The event is deeply rooted in Shinto religion, and was originally held to honour the gods of wind, water and crops.
Men risk injury sliding down a hill at high-speed on a log as part of Japan's Onbashira festival.
News-
Democracy is nothing to fear, Taiwan tells China on Tiananmen anniversary
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By J.R. Wu
TAIPEI (Reuters) - On the anniversary of China's bloody crackdown on student-led protests in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, Taiwan's new president told China on Saturday that democracy is nothing to fear.
Tsai Ing-wen said in a Facebook post on the 27th anniversary that Taiwan could serve as an example to China.
Tsai said in the run-up to Taiwan's elections earlier this year she had seen people from from China, as well as the Chinese territories of Hong Kong and Macau, mixing with crowds in Taiwan.
"These many friends, after experiencing things for themselves can see that in fact there's nothing scary about democracy. Democracy is a good and fine thing," wrote Tsai, who took office last month.
China sent in tanks to break up demonstrations on June 4, 1989. Beijing has never released a death toll but estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand.
The subject remains all but taboo in China, where President Xi Jinping is overseeing a broad crackdown on rights groups and activists.
Tsai also said in her Facebook post about the Tiananmen crackdown's anniversary that nobody could deny the material advances China had made under the Communist Party.
However, China would win even more respect internationally if it gave its people even more rights, wrote Tsai, who is from Taiwan's pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.
Taiwan is the only part of the Chinese-speaking world which holds free elections, and Tsai risks upsetting Beijing with her frank remarks on Tiananmen.
China has never renounced the use of force to bring what it views as a wayward province under its control and is deeply suspicious of Tsai. Chinese officials have accused her of pushing the island toward formal independence.
In Beijing, security was tight at Tiananmen Square, with long lines at bag and identity checks. The square itself was peaceful, with hundreds of tourists stopping to take photos in the early summer sun.
While most state media made no mention of the sensitive anniversary, the English version of popular Beijing-based tabloid the Global Times wrote in a commentary that people in China had put the events of 1989 behind them.
"The annual hubbub around the June 4 incident is nothing but bubbles that are doomed to burst."
Tsai said Taiwan understood the pain caused by Tiananmen because Taiwan had similar experiences in its struggle for democracy, referring to repression under the martial law enforced by the Nationalists over the island from 1949-1987.
"I'm not here to give advice about the political system on the other side of the Taiwan Strait, but am willing to sincerely share Taiwan's democratic experience," she said.
People in Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule under a deal to preserve wide-ranging freedoms in 1997, will mark the anniversary later on Saturday. It is the only place on Chinese soil where June 4 commemorations are tolerated.
(Additional reporting by Faith Hung, and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait)
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हरियाणा के अतिरिक्त मुख्य सचिव :गृह: राम निवास ने बताया, ‘‘राज्य में शांति रही और किसी हिस्से से किसी अनहोनी की खबर नहीं है । यातायात भी सामान्य रहा । प्रदर्शनकारियों ने न तो राजमार्ग और न ही रेल लाइन को जाम किया ।’’ राम निवास ने बताया कि कई जिलों में जाट समुदाय के लोगों ने कोई प्रदर्शन नहीं किया । कुछ जगहों पर प्रदर्शनकारी धरने पर बैठे, उपायुक्तों को ज्ञापन सौंपे और फिर कुछ समय बाद धरने से उठ गए ।
राष्ट्रीय राजमार्गों और रेल पटरियों सहित पूरे हरियाणा में चौकसी बरतने के लिए केंद्र और राज्य के करीब 20,000 सुरक्षाकर्मी तैनात किए गए हैं । फरवरी में हुए हिंसक प्रदर्शन में प्रदर्शनकारियों ने राजमार्गों और रेल की पटरियों को कई दिनों तक जाम कर दिया था ।
पिछली बार हिंसक प्रदर्शन के केंद्र रहे रोहतक जिले के जसिया गांव के जाट नेताओं ने हवन कर आरक्षण आंदोलन के दूसरे दौर की शुरूआत की । कुछ प्रभावशाली खाप पंचायतों और जाट गुटों ने प्रदर्शन से खुद को दूर कर लिया है ।
प्रदर्शन का आह्वान करने वाले अखिल भारतीय जाट आरक्षण संघर्ष समिति :एआईजेएएसएस: ने जसिया के ठीक बाहर रोहतक-पानीपत राजमार्ग पर एक टेंट लगा दिया और 21 में से 15 जिलों और दिल्ली में धरना भी दिया ताकि अपनी मांगों को लेकर समर्थन जुटा सके ।
एआईजेएएसएस के अध्यक्ष यशपाल मलिक ने कहा कि प्रदर्शन शांतिपूर्ण था ।
मलिक ने कहा कि एआईजेएएसएस दिल्ली सहित अन्य राज्यों में सांकेतिक धरना देगी । उन्होंने कहा कि दिल्ली में आज शाम ऐसा एक प्रदर्शन किया गया । जारी