Swedish fashion retailer Lindex has launched a three-year project aimed at creating gender equality and inclusiveness for women in its supply chain, starting in Bangladesh.

The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety has suspended the operations of another six garment factories for failing to prioritise remediation.

UK value footwear retailer Shoe Zone has offered a cautious outlook for the remainder of the year as it revealed lower sales and earnings in its first-half as a result of the group’s ongoing store rationalisation programme.

US women’s wear retailer Bebe Stores has reached agreements with “substantially all” of its retail store landlords to end its existing leases to the tune of about US$65m.

Guatemalan eco-friendly apparel, yarn and fabric maker Iris Textiles is set to launch a recycled apparel line as it works to transform its business into a sustainable fashion supplier.

Vietnam veterans shared the pain of surviving explosions, losing friends and the emotional wounds left behind from the war, filling in the story for students beyond what is found in their school textbooks.

More than 80 Yorba Linda High students heard the stories of 28 veterans as part of “Portraits of Courage,” a U.S. history project designed to examine the impact of the Vietnam War on the men and women who lived through the fighting.

“I wanted the students to be active participants,” said history teacher Lloyd Walls, who partnered with another history teacher, Lisa Tully, to execute the project.  “In a world that is increasingly digital and increasingly fast paced, I think we are losing a bit of the human connection. But when you are sitting across from someone and you can see the pain of their memories, it becomes real.”

Groups of three students were partnered with a veteran who they interviewed for an hour about their lives and experiences during the war.

“It’s probably been one of the most positive experiences,” said Mike Lynn, a Vietnam veteran who helped recruit many of the veterans who participated in the project. “We don’t get our chance very often to tell our side of the story. It gave us a chance to have a voice.”

Lynn’s granddaughter, Sydney Ashton, participated in the project along with classmates Tatum Folmar and Yichuan Ding. They interviewed Frank Orozio, who enlisted in the Marines in 1967. He was 19.

Orzio and his platoon were caught in a deadly ambush – he lost a leg, the use of his left arm and half his jaw was removed. He received two Purple Hearts.

“You wake up and think about it,” he told the students. “There’s not a day that goes by I don’t think about the war and those I lost.”

Orzio’s strength and determination left a lasting impression on Ashton.

“You can really tell, speaking to him, he has true love for his country and he believes strongly in everything they did there,” she said.

Gabriella Jreige, Ricky Valdez and Kaci Stewart sat down with Doug Potratz to learn about his war experience.

“It was really different than what we had studied and learned, just because they always explain the Vietnam War as kind of like not that positive,” Jreige said. “Once we got to talk to our veteran, we got to see his perspective and how that was one of the biggest things he’s done in his life and how it affected him, impacted him. And, we got to see how people treated him.”

A sergeant in the Marines, Potratz was assigned at one point to work in the ambassador’s house. He told the students his favorite memory was waking up the ambassador at 3 in the morning to have him take refuge in a bunker in his boxers and long black socks. And in his office, the ambassador had signed pictures with all the presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Richard Nixon.

“I’ll remember the Vietnam War as how Doug Potratz explained it,” Jreige said.

Stewart said Potratz’s personal stories helped her feel closer to his experiences. She was able to take away much more than what is written in a textbook, she said.

“It’s comforting to know that there’s people out there that genuinely enjoy serving our country and protecting us,” Stewart said. “That they are willing to put their lives on the line for everyone else.”

Walls said all of the veterans interviewed for the project shared a common sentiment: They felt very abandoned and alone coming home after the war.

“I just couldn’t imagine fighting so hard and then not getting any appreciation coming back,” said Brooke Miller, a junior, who interviewed Gary Erland. “When he came home, he was spit on and he got called bad names. He wasn’t welcomed.”

As part of the project, Quinn Santone, a senior, photographed the veterans. He wanted to translate what they went through into the photos, he said.

“A lot of people had canes, different artifacts, and I wanted those things to be captured as well,” Santone said. One veteran’s photo includes his therapy dog, Casper.

To honor the veterans, a gallery displaying the veterans’ stories along with the 16-by-20 photos was held Thursday, June 8, in the school’s library. A book containing the stories and photographs was given to the veterans.

“They can see that their story is being told and will be remembered,” Walls said.

Lynn said he wants the students to remember the troops did their best under extraordinary circumstances.

“We are proud that we represented our country,” Lynn said. “If you see someone wearing a Vietnam hat, take a second to shake their hand and say, ‘Welcome Home.’”

CAMP PENDLETON  Arthur, a Belgian malinois shepherd, and his handler, California Highway Patrol Officer Robert Stage, circled 15 large cans, some of which held explosives without detonation devices.

Within seconds, Arthur identified all five cans containing the explosives.

The exercise, a trial run on the first of a three-day national explosive certification held by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives National Canine Division, was designed to teach canine teams from across the nation the newest strategies to fight the ongoing threat of high-tech terror.

Security experts look to dog teams as a way to get a leg up on the expanding technology of explosives. Dogs’ detection capabilities are the only thing aside from intelligence gathering that can detect a bomb, experts say. Canines are capable of detecting 19,000 explosive formulations, they say.

“In London, in France, terrorism is everywhere, whether it’s domestic or international,” Stage said during the training Tuesday, June 6. “This training is necessary for law enforcement and the general public. Dogs can do a lot of things we can’t.”

Stage, 47, from the  CHP’s Inland  Division in San Bernardino, expertly maneuvered the 2-year-old dog around three more ring drills after that first success. Each time, Arthur scored five out of five — a crowning achievement for a young explosive-sniffing dog that had just completed the CHP’s dog training program in November.

“His very first pass he got the odors right away,” said James James, a lead instructor from the ATF’s National Canine Division who oversaw Arthur’s training. “He was a rock star.”

Arthur was one of 25 law enforcement and military dog canine explosive teams participating in National Odor Recognition Testing, a program held by the ATF at Camp Pendleton for the first time. Among the participating agencies in addition to the Marine Corps were the Los Angeles Police Department, the U.S. Navy, the Federal Protective Service, the California Highway Patrol, the Riverside Police Department and the U.S. Marshal Service.

The focus on canine training in explosives detection followed 9/11. National Odor Recognition Testing was established by Congress in 2007.

This year alone, the ATF has trained 346 teams, James said. Since the program’s inception in September 2005, 2,953 federal, state, local and military canine teams have participated, he said.

The training exposes dog teams to new strains of explosives and the six key components found in bombs. They are also taught to find homemade peroxide-based explosives, something used by Richard Reid, who in 2001 was arrested for attempting to detonate explosives hidden in a shoe on an American Airlines flight.

“It’s important we’re out there making sure that dogs are imprinted with newer explosive combinations as well as being kept up to standards,” said Ginger Colbrun, spokesperson for the ATF. “The number one goal is public safety.”

While each of the agencies represented has its own training protocols, the ATF program sets a common practice for bomb detection, said Cody Monday, lead instructor for the program.

“If the dogs can find odors, they should be able to find the explosive,” he said.

The training is also a place where handlers from different agencies can share ideas and create bonds for upcoming security events.

Monday pointed to this year’s Boston Marathon in April as an example of multiple agencies working together. More than 100 dog teams traveled there two weeks before the race, he said, and worked to clear the area where pedestrians would be and led searches for suspicious items and people.

Arthur was one of two dogs to get certification by the U.S. Department of Justice on the first day of training at Camp Pendleton.

In the afternoon, a chemist from the ATF awaited the dog in a nearby room for the actual certification.

Stage, who served in the Marine Corps from 1991-1995, put Arthur through the paces. The dog instantly identified the explosives hidden in the cans.

As he had in the other drills, Stage removed a plastic chew toy attached near his gun and gave it to Arthur as his reward.

“He was pretty locked on, he’s well-trained,” Stage said. “He’s doing his thing to get his toy and it makes him happy.”

What Stage said pleased him the most, though, was seeing progress in Arthur and his own explosive-training expertise. While finding explosive scents might seem a game for Arthur, Stage, a 12-year CHP veteran said he knows the dangers firsthand.

He calls being a dog handler, the “coolest job at the CHP.”

“The work Art and I do is a great asset to the public,” Stage said. “We work to either detect or deter potential life-threatening incidents from occurring.”

RANCHO MISSION VIEJO For parents, getting in a quick workout or enjoying some time out usually involves finding a babysitter.

At Escencia, Rancho Mission Viejo’s newest neighborhood, developers have constructed a new $11 million community gathering spot, The Hilltop, where families can enjoy time away from home together.

Surrounded by breathtaking scenery, The Hilltop not only rests at the highest point in the Esencia community, it promises recreation for all ages.

The three-building campus spans about 4 and a half acres and includes two pools and a spa. It also has an indoor-outdoor gym, an arcade with an outdoor Ping-Pong table, courtyards, a community bar, bocce ball courts and a lawn with cornhole boards.

“It’s a good gathering place,” said Pete Roldan, who was visiting The Hilltop with his wife Stacy for the second time in a week. “Families too, because it hosts to all ages. The adults can work out while the kids play in the arcade, middle schoolers and high schoolers can swim. I think it’s universal with all the activities they boast.”

The goal, officials said, was to make The Hilltop an inter-generational recreational hub for 3,411 households in both the Esencia and Sendero neighborhoods and, after a soft opening that took place last week, that strategy seems to be working.

On Friday, June 2, residents of all ages could be seen on the campus, some in the arcade and gym but most enjoying the large pool.

The Roldans were doing an early afternoon workout at the gym.

“I like the concept of working out, the shower, the pool, you can incorporate everything,” said Stacy Roldan, 51. “You can spend the whole day here.”

The couple and their 9-year-old daughter moved to Rancho Mission Viejo from nearby Ladera Ranch, where they had lived for 17 years.

“We’re accustomed to the whole concept of community living, staying in the community and having everything here,” said Pete Roldan, 50. “When they opened it up, we were like, ‘Wow.’ It’s over and above what we expected.”

The project, which took approximately one year to complete, adds another gathering place for the community. The Canyon House is more for meetings and business, officials said, while The Hilltop is purely for recreation.

But officials put an emphasis on The Hilltop as an all-inclusive amenity, which will also be accessible to Rancho Mission Viejo’s final three planned communities, which construction has not yet begun.

“These are always thought of as central recreational and social meeting places for the whole community,” said Paul Johnson, senior vice president of community development in Rancho Mission Viejo. “Over time, the more people we get in here, it’s a way in which they’ll meet many more neighbors over time. You hope it never gets to be the same old crowd.”

Rancho Mission Viejo officials also launched their first Hilltop Hangout, June 2. The Hilltop Hangout is a planned social gathering event which will run the first Friday of every month and will also include food trucks just outside the main entrance and courtyard areas.

Additionally, the amenities have been designed to be changed depending on the demand of the community, officials said.

“Interest and ability should be how we let this place find its rhythm,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a couple of months, if not a couple of years to see how that sorts out.”

Metrolink will mark National Dump the Pump Day on Thursday, June 15, by offering free round-trip tickets to those who pledge on Facebook to park their cars and ride Metrolink trains.

Metrolink operates a rail system that serves Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and northern San Diego counties.

Those who make the Facebook pledge Wednesday, June 7 to Friday, June 9 will get a free round-trip ticket good for June 15. Information: metrolinktrains.com/contest

National Dump the Pump Day encourages people to ride public transportation instead of driving a car.