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Due to decades of oppressive communist rule, Cubans unconnected to the Communist Party have little, if any, access to meat staples like beef, chicken, and pork, making Cuba a baffling choice for PETA to expand its advocacy in.

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The lettuce ladies arrived in Havana on Tuesday and plan to hand out vegan recipe books, veterinary supplies, and exacerbate Havanas stray dog problem by distributing dog treats. The advocates will target tourists in the areas of Havana off-limits to Cubans Cuba maintains an apartheid system in Havana tolimit tourists exposure to non-Party-approved Cuban nationals with $1,000 in supplies which also include vegetable themed pens and informational booklets.

Weve taken this campaign around the world and we absolutely wanted to take it to Cuba, PETA spokeswomanAshley Byrne told theMiami Herald. Byrne described the lettuce ladies as a fun way to teach about going vegan and insisted that PETA had not discussed our plans with the Cuban government.

It had been more than 50 years since a U.S. airline last flew to Cubas capital, and for the first time ever, two Lettuce Ladies carrying green suitcases that proclaim, Vegan Ambassador to Cuba, and wearing little more than strategically placed lettuce leaves were on board, PETA announced on its websiteon Tuesday. Their mission? To encourage new friends on the island to help animals by going vegan.

PETA has attempted to engage the island nation before, publishing guides for tourists on how to eat vegan while staying in Cuba. Vegans do not eat meat and abstain from consuming any food made with animal products, including dairy and eggs. The PETA guide to eating vegan in Cuba places emphasis on what the organization appears to believe is common Cuban cuisine: plantains, rice and beans, tubers like yuca andmalanga. While staples of Cuban cuisine in the U.S. exile community, wherebasic foods are readily available, Cubans on the island struggle to feed themselves properly againstcrippling poverty and an increasingly stringent rationing system.

Dr. Carlos Eire, theT. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History & Religious Studies at Yale University and a member of the Cuban exile community, reacted to the PETA publicity stunt with outrage, highlighting that meat of any kind is very scarce for 99% of the population and it would be impossible for Cubans to follow a vegan diet, due to the scarcity of certain food items:

Before you deliver a single lecture to Cubans, go live in Castrogonia as Cubans for at least three months, trying to survive on a vegan diet as Cubans would do, on a ration card and an income of 20 dollars a month.

While youre in Castrogonia, wear your lettuce bikinis all the time, no matter where you are or what you are doing.

Or, if that proves inconvenient, go naked. After all many of your PETA ads against fur-wearing feature naked celebrities.

Join the Ladies in White for one of their Sunday events and be sure to get arrested and beaten along with them. See if your conception of ethical treatment is affected in any way by the experience.

Specifically, Cubans are limited in what they can buy by a Communist Party ration book. According to the Cuban journalist Yusnaby Prez, the average Cuban ration book allows for the monthly purchase, among other minor items, of five eggs, five pounds of rice, half a pound of oil, 1/4 pound coffee cut with toasted split peas, two one-kilogram packages of salt a year, a pound of chicken, and another 3/4 pound of chicken meant to substitute a no longer existent fish ration. Prez quotes one pensioner as estimating that the monthly rations last him an average of ten days.

Families with school-aged children can rely on schools feeding their sons and daughters outrageously meager lunches, exposed in a Cuban television report that resulted in official sanctions by the Communist Party for the network that aired it. In the report, a schoolboy protests that his food largely consisting of a watery split pea soup was full of rocks, dirt, it has no salt, the split peas are watery:

The Miami-based outletMart Noticias consulted aCuban nutritionist identified as Leonardo to evaluate the quality of the average Cuban diet last year. In Cuba, the variety of food is very limited. It has been years since Cubans have eaten fresh fish, beef, or shellfish, he explained. People do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. Half the population gets its calories from carbohydrates like pizza, bread, and sweets, what we call junk food. Despite the possible presence of eggs in some of the pizza dough and sweets, Cuban diets are already largely vegan-friendly by necessity.

The situation only appears to be getting worse, reports indicate, because of tourists like the lettuce ladies. In a report in December, the New York Timeswarned that increased tourism to Cuba triggered in part by the Obama administrations decision to issue major diplomatic concessions to the Communist dictatorship has forced the government to scramble its food supply to feed tourists, leaving many Cubans starving. Its a disaster, one woman told theTimes, who complained she had not been able to buy an onion for the entirety of 2016.

Tourists are quite literally eating Cubas lunch, theTimes concludes.

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PETA Deploys Bikini-Clad 'Lettuce Ladies' to Turn Impoverished Cuba Vegan - Breitbart News

Written by PETA | March 1, 2017

The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and PETA came together to discuss vegan and sustainable clothing as part of the universitys annual Sustainability Awareness Week. PETA curated a special panel for the students, featuring five superstars of the vegan fashion scene: Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart (Vaute), Bianca Moran (SUSI Studio), Joshua Katcher (Brave GentleMan), Sydney Brown (Sydney Brown), and Sugandh Agrawal (GUNAS).

The How to Make It in (Vegan) Fashion discussion was moderated by model and activist Renee Peters. Topics included where to find high-quality vegan textiles, why cruelty-free apparel is an unstoppable trend in todays industry, and, in line with the panels title, how to make it as a sustainable designer.

Designers dont need to contribute to the horrific treatment of animals in order to be successful in the fashion world, which is why we teamed up with FIT to showcase some of the best designers leading the way with sustainable vegan fabrics.

Pick any material made from animals, and there are many high-quality, contemporary options that you can wear instead. Take leather, for example. From Ultrasuede and cork, to surprising materials such as pineapple, kombucha tea, and mushrooms, many new vegan leather innovations are hitting the scene. Thinking about ditching your itchy wool coat? These natural fabrics make for fantastic soft-knit options. Not down with down feathers? Try any of these cruelty-free high-tech fabrics instead. The list goes on and on, because vegan fabrics have hit the ground runningand simply put, theyre the future of fashion.

Take a step toward sustainability with us by supporting vegan leather, fur, down, and wool suppliers the next time that youre out shopping for clothing and accessories.

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Why Sustainable, Vegan Design Is the Future of Fashion - PETA (blog) (press release)

Christopher Buchanan, WXIA 5:57 PM. EST March 01, 2017

HULL, Ga. -- A Georgia woman is behind bars after deputies said she slammed into a chicken truck, fled the scene and then refused to leave her home once authorities tracked her down.

The investigation began when a truck driver told police he was traveling west on Hwy. 72 when a red four-door car hit the side of his truck. The driver said he initiated his brakes only to have the suspect vehicle slam into his truck once more - spinning in front of the truck in the process.

The truck driver pulled over and called 911 as the red car fled. He only had a basic description of the driver, a woman with shoulder length red hair. Had that been all that Madison County deputies had to work with, she might not have been as easy to find. However they reported that there was debris from the crash left on the side of the road - including her license plate.

A records check tracked the car's owner back to a residents in the 2300 block of Spring Circle in Comer, Ga. When police initially arrived, they found no one there. However, a second attempt found both the vehicle and a driver matching the driver'svague description.

The woman refused to leave the home unless the officer's secured a warrant but did speak with deputies through multiple windows of the house, explaining what happened. The woman, later identified as Judith Moriah Armstrong, 26, admitted she was involved in an accident and fled for fear of what would happen to her license.

But further questioning revealed that the accident wasn't all that accidental. She told officers she hit the other vehicle because it was a chicken truck and she was a vegan. Armstrong said she was heading home from work when she hit the truck and denied having alcohol before making the drive. However, claimed to have "taken a couple of shots" when she arrived home.

A report states that Armstrong continued to refuse leaving the home after repeated requests that she step outside. Officers eventually obtained a warrant and she surrendered to police. She was tested for alcohol consumption in jail and blew a .089 which is over the legal limit.

Authorities said she now faces charges of hit-and-run, aggressive driving, driving under the influence, and obstruction.

( 2017 WXIA)

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Ga. woman's reason wrecking into chicken truck: 'I'm vegan' - 11alive.com

Today marks the first day of Lent, and many people around the around the world even those who don't consider themselves practising Christians are gearing up for 40 days of abstention from some perceived vice or other. We've all heard that Theresa May has given up crisps a popular choice, alongside alcohol, chocolate, and fizzy drinks.

But what if there was something you could give up that could not only improve your own health but also help combat climate change and save lives? Who wouldn't want that kind of bang for their buck?

Well, for those of you still undecided about what to forgo, you're in luck, because you can do exactly that by choosing not to eat meat, eggs, and dairy products and giving them up may be easier than you think.

Can people tell the difference between real and vegan cheese?

The days when vegans brought their own cartons of soya milk to the coffee shop are long gone. As people have become increasingly aware of the systematic cruelty endured by animals raised for food as well as the devastating impact that animal agriculture has on the planet and the health problems linked to the consumption of animal-derived foods more and more of us are choosing to leave them off our plates. Google searches for "vegan" have increased by380 per centin the last five years, while supermarkets, restaurants, and other businesses are falling over themselves to meet the ever-increasing demand for vegan food.

As a result, there's a greater choice of widely available vegan options than ever before for those of you who are new to the game. In fact, half of Britain's top restaurant chains now offer a vegan main course, according to research by Ethical Consumer. There are veggie fajitas at Las Iguanas, a chilli sin carne at Le Pain Quotidien, miso dumpling Ramen at Yo! Sushi, vegan cheese pizzas at Zizzi, and even a vegan curry at JD Wetherspoon. Plus, dedicated veggie spots are popping up all over the country in London, you'll find a queue right down the road for Temple of Hackney's vegan fried chicken, while Bristol is poised for the opening of a vegan fish and chip shop.

Although most of us were raised eating animals and have been conditioned not to think about the terrified living being who was killed for our steak, we cannot deny that cows, pigs, chickens, and other animals used for their flesh have feelings, thoughts, and personalities just like the millions of beloved cats and dogs in this country who are viewed as part of the family. How, then, can we justify the way in which they are treated like machines and endure enormous suffering in the food industry? Cows on dairy farms, for example, are repeatedly forcibly impregnated, and their calves are torn away from them shortly after birth. The males are killed or sold for meat, while females who are destined for the same cycle of misery as their mothers are mutilated and kept in filthy and severely crowded conditions.

When chickens are only a few weeks old, they endure a stressful and terrifying trip to the abattoir, where many are killed while they're still conscious. On occasion, animals such as pigs have made extraordinary dashes for freedom while on their way to slaughter by jumping from moving lorries, leaping fences, or swimming across rivers because they value their lives just as we do.

Last year, the World Health Organisation listed processed meat including sausage and bacon as a carcinogen in the same category as tobacco. Its research found that consuming 50 grams of processed meat a day (less than two slices of bacon) increased a person's chances of developing colorectal cancer by 18 per cent. Another study found that eating exclusively plant-based foods lowers the risk of developing prostate cancer by 35 per cent. Being vegetarian or vegan also reduces the risk of suffering from heart disease, strokes, and diabetes, some of the country's biggest killers.

Going vegan also helps ensure a greener tomorrow. The Worldwatch Institute estimates that a staggering 51 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide are caused by "livestock and their by-products", which makes sense when you think about the vast swathes of rainforest that are being cut down in order to grow crops to feed the billions of animals we raise every year for meat as well as the energy required to run the factories, the water wastage, the cows' methane emissions, the fossil fuels burned during transportation, the energy required for refrigeration, the materials used for packaging, and so on. Just imagine how much more efficient our food systems would be if we ate the crops ourselves instead of funnelling them through animals. It's no wonder the United Nations has warned that a global shift towards a plant-based diet is vital in order to alleviate the worst effects of climate change.

Veganism also goes hand in hand with Christian values of compassion and respect for all creation. After all, the Garden of Eden was vegan!

Given all these compelling reasons not to eat animals, it's hardly surprising that 12 per cent of adults in the UK are now vegetarian. The number of 16-24 year-olds who say they're vegan or vegetarian is even higher: 20 per cent and growing. These numbers lead to one conclusion: we're experiencing a fundamental shift in our collective psyche towards a kinder, more respectful way of living. If you haven't tried it yet, Lent is the perfect time to take the plunge, and PETA offers a free vegan starter kit on its website to help people make the transition. After 40 days, I suspect you'll be so hooked that you'll consider making it a choice for life.

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This is why you should go vegetarian or vegan for Lent and how to do it - The Independent

Idaho Statesman (blog)

New ice cream shop with beer, wine infusions? Kid, vegan, wacky flavors? Mmmm Idaho Statesman (blog) Vegan ice cream? A flight of craft beer and ice cream? Orange Crush and Fruity Pebbles ice cream? Allen and co-owner Dan Sell have spent hours experimenting with flavors, he says. We've made one or two that haven't been as good as we have hoped, ...

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New ice cream shop with beer, wine infusions? Kid, vegan, wacky flavors? Mmmm - Idaho Statesman (blog)

The Sync Project

In September 2013, Marko Ahtisaari resigned from his position as the head of product design at Nokia. The Finnish company had just been acquired by Microsoft and Ahtisaari, the son of a former president of Finland, decided it was time to look for his next startup. He joined the MIT Media Lab shortly after, where he was introduced by Joi Ito, the Labs director, to Ketki Karanam, a biologist who was studying how music affects the brain. Ahtisaari was naturally interested: he grew up playing the violin and later studied music composition at Columbia University. I used to be part of the New York scene, Ahtisaari says. I left to do product design and to be an entrepreneur. For 15 years I didnt play much. I have friends who are now playing with Tom Yorke and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Karanam showed Ahtisaari that there was an increasing body of evidence based on imaging studies that showed what happens to the brain when exposed to music. It fires very broadly, Ahtisaari. Its not just the auditory cortex. What happens is essentially similar to when we take psycho-stimulants. In other words, when we take drugs.

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To Ahtisaari, this indicated that music could, at least in principle, complement or even replace the effects that pharmaceuticals had on our neurology. For instance, there were studies that showed that patients with Parkinsons disease improved their gait when listening to a song with the right beat pattern.

Another clinical study suggested music could be used for pain management for hernia patients after surgery (Nilsson, U., Unosson, M., & Rawal, N. 2005). A group of patients was exposed to one hour of music in addition to the standard post-surgery care, and allowed to self-administer morphine.

The music group used one-third of the amount of morphine in comparison to a control group who didnt listen to music, Ahtisaari says. Given the opioid epidemic that we have, and particularly how some of it starts after surgery, it seems to me that everyone should be listening to music after an operation.

To Ahtisaari, the idea that music could be used as medicine seemed like one to take seriously, and, in the summer of 2015, along with Karanam with Yadid Ayzenberg, a PhD student at the MIT Media Lab, he started the Sync Project to do just that.

One of the first things we did was to meet top scientists and musicians and ask them how we could take this idea forward, Ahtisaari remembers. They partnered with a diverse group that today forms their advisory board, from neuroscientist Adam Gazzaley to musicians Peter Gabriel and St. Vincent. The response was that we needed to study people when they are really listening to music, during their day-to-day, not in the lab.

The Sync Project is currently analysing more than 10 million playlists on Spotify tagged to a particular health-related word, like relaxation, to map the characteristics of the music tempo, beat salience, timbre that people are playing. They have also developed a Slack bot that every morning delivers a personalised playlist to more than 400 teams around the world. Its personalised to get you in the zone, Ahtisaari says. We get ratings and reactions from the users and that classification goes into the feedback loop. In some cases, Sync is also collecting biometric sensor data, like heart rate, from its users to understand how their physiology correlates to the music. Ultimately, we will be applying machine learning to curate personalised music therapeutic interventions for a particular health outcome, Ahtisaari says.

In twenty years time, we will consider it absurd and primitive that we did not use music and sound as an essential part of our health regime, both for everyday wellness but also to compliment pharmaceutical treatment.

The other type of music therapeutic that Ahtisaari envisions revolves around generative music. Today, March 1, the Sync Project is launching a collaboration with British electronic ambient music band Marconi Union, who in 2011 released the single Weightless, a viral success that became widely known as the most relaxing tune ever.

This new experience with Marconi Union is a new kind of music, Ahtisaari says. Basically, its an AI-generated music thats tuned to your heart rate. With that data as input, Unwind will then generate a personalised soundtrack to help you relax before sleep.

In the meantime, Marko Ahtisaari has returned to one of his favourite pastimes. I read so much of the evidence of the neurological effects of playing music that I said to myself: Man, I can't in good faith do this company unless I start playing again. His new band, formed in 2015, is called Construction. Their first album is out this summer.

Want to know more? In anticipation of this year's WIRED Health conference in London, the Sync Project is announcing an AI music experiment to improve sleep. Anyone interested in relaxation and better sleep with the help of music can participate for free using their smartphone at unwind.syncproject.co. Join hundreds of healthcare, pharmaceutical and technology influencers and leaders at the fourth annual event on March 9 at 30 Euston Square. Buy tickets and learn more here.

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Music as medicine: how songs could soon replace painkillers and help you sleep better - Wired.co.uk

Startups are known for missions that are lofty, audacious, and sometimes even a bit wacky-sounding. But when it comes to ambition, perhaps none are a match for Headspace. "We want to improve the health and happiness of the world," explains Rich Pierson, the company's co-founder.

That's a tall order for any company, never mind one that makes a seemingly simple meditation app. But the Los Angeles-based startup claims 12 million active users, and says that 80 percent of its growth comes from word of mouth. Headspace, which guides users through hundreds of meditation sessions of various lengths, has a five-star rating in the Apple app store, and more than four stars pretty much everywhere else.

While Pierson jokes that we've hit "peak mindfulness," he believes that there's still lots of opportunity to get more people to meditate. By making the practice both approachable and simple---not too clinical, and not delving into "super-weird, hippie granola crystal healing madness," says Pierson--Headspace aims to make it appealing to those who might not have considered it before.

There's also a burgeoning market in large companies that are becoming more aware of the role that mental health could and should play in their corporate wellness programs. That opens up opportunities for companies such as Headspace and meQuilibrium, which offers online stress management. "I think companies are growing in the way they view wellness," says Rob Goetzel, a senior scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. "I think these types of activities--meditation is one technique--ought to be part of the tool kit employers use to support workers."

Most of the time, that has meant a company would hire a trainer and set up a time for employees to learn meditation or other strategies to build their resilience and deal with stress. "Some people like to be in a room with other people," says Goetzel. "But it's very hard to get people in a room for an hour." Delivering meditation via an app allows employees to practice whenever they choose. That may increase adoption, and, Goetzel suspects, could be cheaper than the in-person option.

It's not like Headspace is the only meditation app out there. Dozens of entrepreneurs, it seems, see little irony in using the most distracting device we own--the smartphone--and trying to turn it into a tool for improved awareness. Headspace, at $7.99 to $12.95 a month (depending on the length of your subscription), also is not the cheapest.

What is does have is an unusual co-founder duo: Andy Puddicombe, a Buddhist monk who does the narration for all of Headspace's sessions, and Pierson, who'd formerly been marketing Axe deodorant for BBH, a large agency. Each of them came to meditation through a personal crisis: Puddicombe somehow endured a year during which two of his friends were killed by a drunk driver, his stepsister was killed cycling, and his ex-girlfriend died during heart surgery. His response, after some initial boozing, was to leave his native England for 10 years, study Buddhism, and be ordained as a monk.

Pierson's catalyst was perhaps less dramatic, but it affected him deeply. "I had a bit of a breakdown," says Pierson. "I couldn't go out on public transport, I couldn't speak in front of people. And my job up till then had been in a very public role." A friend introduced him to Puddicombe, who was teaching meditation at a clinic while also running intensive one-day meditation events for a few hundred people at a time. "We did a skills swap," says Pierson. "He would teach me meditation, and I would help him get more people to his events."

Even with Pierson's help, there were still plenty of people who wanted to attend Puddicombe's events but couldn't. They asked if they could buy the handouts that attendees received, so Pierson and Puddicombe started selling that content on their website. In 2011, after an event in New York City, they met someone who asked if they had considered selling the content as a subscription. "We were like, no, we definitely hadn't thought of that," says Pierson, still sounding a bit amused by the oversight. "The events business is a terrible business model, so we went with the subscription idea."

The following year, they developed some exclusive content for The Guardian. "That was the turning point," says Pierson. In a month, the paper took in 32,000 in subscription sales--more than it made the entire year before. Pierson and Puddicombe also built an app, but, says Pierson, "we didn't have any money. We had different developers working on it all over the world. It was kind of built on quicksand."

By 2013, the founders realized they were building a content company, and moved to Los Angeles (yes, they're both surfers). They relaunched the app in July 2014, coming up with something similar to its current product. Meditations are bundled into packs designed to help with relationships, health, and other topics.

In September 2015, the company raised $34 million, a round led by the Chernin group that included Los Angeles luminaries Jessica Alba and Jared Leto. Among other things, the money will help Headspace expand internationally and increase the number of animations on its app. Headspace also will be paying more attention to the corporate market this year. Its clients include Uber, LinkedIn, and Google, says Pierson. These companies get discounts for their employees, and HR managers can tell, in aggregate, how much time employees spend with the app (no personally identifiable metrics are available). The 165-person company offers its content as part of the in-flight entertainment network on seven airlines as well.

Headspace also runs about 40 different studies on the uses and effects of its app. Some address chronic pain, fatigue, and sleep patterns. Another is examining compassion fatigue in nurses. "To me, it's really interesting if Headspace can work with medical professionals," says Pierson.

That would no doubt lend the app some credibility among doubters. While Headspace's user reviews are full of nifty quotes like "This changed my life," Headspace can't promise that subscribers will see any particular gains as a result of the practice. "We are taught that if we do X, we will get Y," says Pierson. "Meditation is the complete opposite of that. If someone is just starting out, my biggest advice is to expect nothing."

If Pierson thinks it's odd that he and Puddicombe are attempting to build a billion-dollar business based on the practices of a religion that argues strenuously against all forms of materialism, well, he's not letting on. He points out that he and Puddicombe still own a large share of the company, having bootstrapped it for five years, and, he says, "making money before we did the A round. It's a proper business." (The company declined to give financial figures.) In the end, Pierson says, "we're mission-first. We want to make sure we can build the project we envision building. If you've got a big enough vision, you need help and financing to get there."

Related:Why Meditation and Mindfulness Training Is One of the Best Industries for Starting a Business in 2017

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How a Monk and an Ad Executive Are Turning Meditation Into a Fast-Growth Business - Inc.com

MANSFIELD -- With violent protests and hate speech a daily part of everyones newsfeeds, a Mansfield, Ohio pair are offering powerful tools for positive action.

A Meditation in Action program will be held Sunday, March 5, 2017 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the historic Butterfly House at 20 N. Mulberry St. in downtown Mansfield. This program will explore contemplative practices that will help individuals stay calm and will provide positive, effective ways to serve as engaged citizens.

The event will be co-hosted by Annamarie Fernyak, founder of Mind Body Align, LLC and noted author and yoga instructor, Claudia Cummins and is free to the public.

Meditation can be a powerful tool that promotes not just inner peace, but also peace in the world around us, shared Cummins. In this afternoon session and community gathering, we'll explore contemplative practices that help us stay calm and balanced in our ever-changing world. We'll also consider ways to serve as engaged citizens who promote wellbeing for all with a spirit of goodwill and unity.

When asked, both Cummins and Fernyak felt there were common themes driving the protests and hateful speech clogging our daily lives. Some of these include How do we live in ease, even in these unsettled times? How does peace in the outer world relate to peace in our own hearts? How do we speak up from a place of love, rather than hate? How do we seek out common ground with those who disagree with us?

Cummins shared what she views as one of the most important thoughts, How can we use difficult emotions like fear and anger to promote healing, rather than discord?

At the Meditation for Action workshop, the group will be led in positive methods for considering these questions and more. The afternoon will include seated meditation, discussion, and an opportunity to learn more about local groups seeking positive change.

This session is offered in a spirit of peace rather than conflict, love rather than hate, and unity rather than polarization, stated Cummins.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of race, age, gender, religion or political belief. No prior meditation experience is necessary. The event is listed on MBAs calendar of events, and can be found by clicking here. View and share your interest on the Facebook invite here.

Mind Body Align, LLC provides opportunity and empowers everyone to live their best lives. It is a multi-faceted business incubator and provides a home for wellness services and career opportunities in the form of available meeting, working and space which is soothing, inspiring and state of the art.

Their cafe offer healthy lunch daily, a gift shop, monthly coffee talks, wine socials, and wellness opportunities. Follow the events scheduled at the Butterfly House on Instagram or at http://www.MindBodyAlign.com and grow inspired to live with intention your best life.

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MBA Wellness Center sponsors Meditation for Action workshop - Richland Source

TALLINN, Estonia -- They may look like soldiers, but theyre actually ordinary men and women with day jobs who volunteer in the Estonian Defence League, a kind of citizens militia.

There are more than 13,000 of them, a civilian resistance force ready to rise up if Estonia were attacked.

Right now, they believe their aggressive neighbor to the east -- Russia -- is enemy number one, especially after its invasion of Ukraine.

Estonia has a professional military too; It was on display in this weekends Independence Day parade.

American soldiers march in Estonias Independence Day parade

CBS News

This small country spends big on defense. Its a fully paid-up member of NATO, and that buys it powerful friends.

Estonian Defense Minister Margus Tsahkna

CBS News

This year, U.S. soldiers deployed to Estonia were part of the parade, and for the first time they brought tanks.

American tanks on the streets of Estonias capital send a powerful message to the people; that the U.S. will stand by its NATO allies. They also send a clear signal to the Kremlin.

That signal: a Russian attack on Estonia backed by NATO would be dangerous.

We are sending the message to Russia very clearly that we are able to speak the same language as Mr. Putin does, and its language that we are ready to fight, said Defense Minister Margus Tsahkna.

And staying ready means constant training.

On Saturday near the town of Voru, local women of the Defense League were learning to use GPS equipment.

Members of the Estonian Defense League prepare for an annual excercise

CBS News

For Ruth Maadla, its about learning new skills. She doesnt really expect the Russian to invade, but I think its good to have the message, she said.

That message to Russia is loud and clear: Estonia is spending record amounts on its military, and the Defence League had never had more volunteers.

2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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Estonia's civilian militia bulks up in face of Russian aggression - CBS News

Summary: The children in these tribal ashram schools should get justice," said Talpe. Talpe said the HC had stated that the government should stop aid to ashram schools that do not fulfil the minimum criteria with immediate effect. As the petitioners' group, we have planned to check whether the committees are doing their duties. The petitioner Talpe claims that unless the suggestions are executed, there is no point in having several committees review the same issue.In his PIL filed in 2013, Talpe had stated that there were over 900 deaths reported at these schools. "There should be constant monitoring.

Pune: The Bombay High Court has suggested the state tribal department to submit a detailed compliance report regarding the functioning of 1,108 tribal ashram schools by March 31.There are 552 government-run tribal schools and 556 aided schools in the state.With five technical committees appointed in the last four years, to check the functioning of tribal ashram schools in the state, the department is expected to come up with a detailed plan by the end of the month.The directions were given during the hearing of a PIL filed by Pune-based petitioner Ravindra Talpe.Senior officials told TOI that the department has been asked to ready the plan and explain the implementation process for tribal ashram schools. The petitioner Talpe claims that unless the suggestions are executed, there is no point in having several committees review the same issue.In his PIL filed in 2013, Talpe had stated that there were over 900 deaths reported at these schools. Talpe said the HC had stated that the government should stop aid to ashram schools that do not fulfil the minimum criteria with immediate effect."There should be constant monitoring.

As the petitioners' group, we have planned to check whether the committees are doing their duties. The children in these tribal ashram schools should get justice," said Talpe.. .

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/state-to-hand-in-compliance-report-by-end-of-month/articleshow/57418669.cms

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State to hand in compliance report by end of month | Pune NYOOOZ - NYOOOZ